1      1     1    !■.....* 

PRINCESS  SON  I A 

■  • " "      ■  ■   /  y  ,••       \  •  ••      lt  ,-  ■        . '     .•••.'    ^  . 

•'■••■■:■:•:■'  •'   .   jv      l     '■  ■.   •.:■.••■'.■, \\-   •   '■>.         \-.-.   ■:••■■"■■     ;■  .-.     ;■ '. .       .:■:■■     ■. .  •  :■  ^      •'■:   .  .5.  . 

M AG RUDER 


IN  MEMORY  OF 
WILLIAM  C.  HABBERLEY 


THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 


MAN     ...      HAD  ST1  PPED 
(SE1     PAl 


THE  PRINCESS  SONIA 


BY 

JULIA   MAGRUDER 
V 

WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS   BY 

CHARLES    DANA    GIBSON 


NEW  YORK 
THE  CENTURY  CO. 

1895 


Copyright,  1895,  by 
The  Century  Co. 


}Hl    DC  VINNE    PRESS. 


Mz 


TO    GENEVIEVE 


M598556 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  beautiful  young  Woman  .  . 
stepped  back  from  her  easel" 


HAD 


Frontispiece 

FACING   PAGE 

6 


16 

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31 

PAGE     37 

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43 
5o 
53 
60 


"A  little  American  Chatterbox" 

"  A  TALL  OLD  Man  " 

"The  Princess  was  very  tall" 

"  '  It  will  be  quite  safe,  I  see  ' " 

" '  Ah,  I  have  made  a  Mistake,  I  see  ' " 

"'Alice  has  a  fine  Voice'" 

"  In  the  American  Colony  " 

"Her  Head  in  its  large  plumed  Hat" 

"  '  Is  it  you,  Martha  ? ' " 

"  '  oh,  i  am  so,  so  sorry  '  " 

"The    Man    who    stood    waiting    to    give    the 

Bride"  76 

"'I  knew  it  was  Anguish  to  you"'  page  92 

"As  she  had  seen  her  once  before"  93 

"  '  Oh,   Sonia,  were  you   ever  really  as  happy 

AS   THAT?  "'  98 

"'I  beg  your  Pardon,'  he  said  again"  104 

"Among  the  Flower-stalls"  106 

"  Sonia  passed  very  near  him  "  124 

"She  put  on  a  long  Cloak"  196 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 


THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 


M 


ARTHA  KEENE  had  been  at  work 
for  several  months  in  Etienne's  atelier, 
in  the  Latin  quarter  of  Paris,  and  although  her 
appearance  would  have  led  one  to  believe  her 
frail  in  health,  she  had  never  missed  a  work- 
ing-day, and  always  occupied  a  good  position 
well  in  view  of  the  model,  because  she  always 
came  among  the  earliest  to  secure  it.  Her 
work  was  far  from  brilliant,  and  Etienne  had 
noticed  her  very  little  at  first.  If  he  did  so 
more  of  late,  it  was  her  ability  to  stick  which 
had  won  her  this  favor.  So  many  students 
had  come  and  gone,  rousing  his  hopes  only 
to  disappoint  them,  that  it  had  got  to  be  rather 
a  comfort  to  the  little  old  man  to  be  sure  of 
one  earnest  worker  always  in  her  place ;  and 
while  he  could  not  say  that  her  work  was  good, 
it  was  certainly  not  bad. 


2  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

Recently  he  had  tokl  Martha  this  several 
times.  "Not  bad"  was  about  the  highest 
praise  that  most  of  Etienne's  pupils  got  from 
him  ;  and  when  the  young  American  girl  heard 
it  for  the  first  time  applied  to  her  work,  she 
experienced  what  was  perhaps  one  of  the  most 
thrilling  sensations  of  her  life. 

It  was  followed  by  another  thrilling  sensa- 
tion;  for,  as  she  looked  up  from  the  canvas 
which  the  master  had  thus  commended,  she 
met  the  beautiful  eyes  of  the  princess,  turned 
upon  her  with  a  congratulatory  smile. 

It  was  almost  too  much  for  Martha.  Her 
heart  thumped  so  that  her  breathing  became 
rapid  and  a  little  difficult.  Instead  of  answer- 
ing the  princess's  smile,  a  frown  contracted  her 
forehead ;  for  she  was  afraid  that  she  was 
going  to  lose  her  self-control,  and  she  needed 
a  stern  effort  not  to  do  so.  Martha  had  a  heart 
which  was  made  for  worshiping.  Etienne  and 
the  princess  were  two  of  the  people  that  she 
worshiped,  and  there  was  a  third. 

When  Etienne  had  passed  on,  after  smudg- 
ing one  part  of  her  drawing  with  his  thumb 
until  it  was  a  dirty  blur,  and  scratching  an- 
other part  with  ruthless  streaks  of  soft  char- 
coal,  slu:  remembered  she  had  received  his 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  3 

first  words  of  encouragement  rather  coldly, 
and  had  made  the  same  sort  of  return  for  the 
princess's  smile.  This  plunged  her  from  a 
state  of  delight  into  one  of  wretchedness.  She 
looked  toward  the  master  with  some  hope  of 
making  amends ;  but  he  was  too  absorbed  in 
his  next  criticism,  and  it  was  only  too  evident 
that  her  chance  was  gone.  Then  she  glanced 
at  the  princess,  to  receive  the  same  impres- 
sion from  that  quarter.  The  beautiful  young 
woman  on  whom  her  eyes  rested  had  stepped 
back  from  her  easel,  and  with  her  head  turned 
sidewise,  and  her  eyelids  drawn  up,  was  look- 
ing at  her  picture.  She  held  a  brush  in  one 
hand,  with  the  fingers  delicately  poised,  and 
in  the  other  her  palette,  laid  with  brilliant  dabs 
of  color.  Her  lips  were  pursed  critically,  and 
her  whole  attitude  and  expression  showed 
such  absorption  in  her  work  that  Martha  felt 
it  would  be  absurd  to  imagine  that  she  or  her 
behavior  could  have  any  part  in  that  beautiful 
lady's  consciousness. 

As  usual,  when  Martha  allowed  herself  to 
look  at  the  princess,  she  forgot  everything 
else.  She  had  lono-  aofo  had  to  make  it  a  rule 
to  place  her  easel  so  that  she  would  be  turned 
away  from  her  enchantress  while  she  was  work- 


4  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

ing ;  otherwise  she  could  see  and  think  only 
of  her.  At  the  present  moment  she  was  com- 
pletely fascinated  by  the  tall,  strong  figure,  so 
firmly  poised,  with  one  foot  advanced,  and  her 
body  thrown  backward  from  the  slender  waist, 
where  a  belt  of  old  silver  confined  the  folds 
of  her  red  silk  shirt-waist  above  the  sweep  of 
her  skirt  of  dark  ereen  ser^e.  This  was  her 
ordinary  working-rig ;  and  as  she  wore  no 
apron,  as  most  of  the  other  students  did,  it 
was  more  or  less  streaked  with  paint.  Martha 
herself  wore  her  calico  apron  religiously,  and 
was  always  neatly  clothed  beneath  it ;  but  she 
would  have  protested  utterly  against  seeing 
her  neighbor  in  an  apron.  It  would  have 
looked  so  unprincesslike  !  She  was  very  tall 
and  straight,  this  princess,  and  "  Serene  High- 
ness" seemed  to  Martha  to  be  written  on 
every  inch  of  her. 

There  was  not  much  sociability  among  the 
students  in  the  atelier.  They  came  from  many 
different  countries,  and  spoke  many  different 
tongues ;  and  they  were  such  a  mixture  of 
aristocrats  and  plebeians — some  were  so  afraid 
of  patronizing  and  others  of  being  patronized, 
—  that  the  conditions  generally  were  such  as 
were  opposed  to  much  mixing.     Talking  was 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  5 

forbidden  during  work-hours,  except  the  little 
absolutely  necessary  whispering ;  and  in  the 
intermission  at  noon  the  princess  always  went 
away  for  lunch,  and  sometimes  did  not  return. 
Martha,  too,  went  to  her  mother's  apartment 
for  the  midday  meal,  though  nothing  ever  pre- 
vented her  from  returning.  Some  of  the  stu- 
dents had  chums,  with  whom  they  chatted 
glibly  in  the  cloak-room ;  but  as  a  rule,  these 
intimacies  had  been  formed  outside. 

Martha  Keene  was  a  girl  who  would  never 
have  made  the  first  advance  toward  an  acquain- 
tance with  any  one ;  for,  although  she  had 
passed  her  twentieth  year,  she  was  incorrigi- 
bly shy.  This  reserve  of  manner  was  so  evi- 
dent that  it  discouraged  advances  from  others. 
She  knew  this  and  regretted  it,  but  could  not 
help  it. 

It  had  pleased  Martha  very  much  when,  on 
a  single  occasion,  this  wall  of  isolation  which 
she  had  built  around  herself  had  been  broken 
through  by  a  little  American  chatterbox,  who 
had  rattled  away  to  her  for  ten  minutes  one 
day  as  she  was  waiting  for  her  carriage  in  the 
cloak-room.  This  had  been  soon  after  her 
entrance  at  Etienne's,  and  her  voluble  coun- 
try-woman had  vanished  from  the  horizon  the 


6  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

next  day  ;  but  in  that  one  talk  she  had  got  al- 
most all  the  knowledge  of  the  atelier  which 
she  possessed. 

Her  informant  had  told  her  that  the  stu- 
dents were  not  supposed  to  inquire  about  one 
another  at  all,  the  ideal  of  the  atelier  being  a 
place  where  high  and  low  alike  could  lay  aside 
their  disabilities  and  ^et  the  benefits  of  the  com- 
mon  workshop.  She  added  that  there  had  been 
several  personages  of  importance  studying 
there  since  she  herself  had  been  a  student, 
but  that  she  had  always  heard  of  it  from  the 
outside,  and  they  had  generally  left  before  she 
had  identified  them.  "  I  spotted  the  princess, 
though,"  she  had  said.  "  As  soon  as  I  heard 
that  there  wras  a  Russian  princess  studying 
here,  I  picked  her  out.  Do  you  know  which 
one  she  is?"  Martha  had  answered,  "The 
lady  in  the  red  blouse  " —  a  guess  at  once  con- 
firmed. "  Is  n't  she  stunning?"  her  compan- 
ion had  gone  on  ;  "I  'm  dying  to  speak  to 
her!  If  she  were  not  a  princess,  I  'd  have 
done  it  long  ago.  I  can't  go  the  Russian  ;  but 
no  doubt  she  speaks  every  language.  Rus- 
sians always  do."  At  this  point  of  the  conver- 
sation the  lady  herself  had  come  into  the 
cloak-room.      A   neat  French  maid  who  was 


A   LITTLE   AMERICAN    CHATTERBOX. 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  7 

in  waiting  had  come  forward,  and  held  out 
her  lady's  wrap,  a  magnificent  sable  thing,  in 
which  the  beautiful  creature  had  quickly  in- 
folded herself,  and  left  the  room,  the  two  girls 
meanwhile  making  a  tremendous  effort  to 
cover  their  breathless  interest  by  an  air  of 
unconsciousness. 

Ever  since  that  day —  indeed,  even  before  it 
—  Martha  had  been  a  silent  worshiper  at  the 
shrine  of  the  princess.  She  had  a  passionate 
love  of  beauty,  and  her  heart,  for  all  her  grave 
and  shy  exterior,  was  packed  as  full  of  ro- 
mance as  it  could  hold.  The  discovery  that 
this  beautiful  being  was  a  princess  —  and  a 
Russian  princess,  of  all  others — was  meet  food 
for  this  appetite  for  the  romantic ;  and  she 
dreamed  by  the  hour  about  this  young  woman's 
life,  and  wondered  what  it  had  been  and  was 
to  be.  She  knew  she  could  not  be  many  years 
older  than  herself,  and  she  wondered,  with 
burning  interest,  whether  she  was  or  was  not 
married.  Sometimes  she  would  hold  to  one 
opinion  for  days,  and  then  something  —  a  mere 
turn  of  expression,  perhaps  —  would  convert 
her  to  the  opposite  one.  She  wanted  her  to 
be  unmarried,  so  that  she  might  be  free  to 
construct   from  her  imagination    a   beautiful 


8  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

future  for  her  ;  and  yet  she  dreaded  to  find  out 
that  she  was  married.  There  was  certainly  a 
look  about  the  princess  which  contradicted 
Martha's  ideal  of  her  as  the  possessor  of  a 
fair,  unwritten  life-page.  Martha  had  watched 
her  hands  to  see  if  she  wore  a  weddincr-rine  ; 
but  those  extraordinarily  beautiful  hands  were 
either  loaded  down  with  jeweled  gauds  of  an- 
tique workmanship  or  else  quite  ringless.  Still, 
many  married  women  were  careless  about 
wearing  their  wedding-rings,  a  thing  which 
Martha  herself  could  not  comprehend  ;  but  she 
felt  that  this  wonderful  creature  was  removed 
as  far  as  possible  from  her  in  both  actuality 
and  ideas. 

Martha  had  heard  the  sound  of  the  princess's 
voice  only  once  or  twice,  and  on  those  occa- 
sions she  had  spoken  French  with  what  seemed 
to  the  American  girl  an  absolutely  perfect  ac- 
cent. Once  she  had  been  near  enough  to  hear 
a  little  talk  between  the  princess  and  Etienne, 
as  he  was  criticizing  the  former's  work  with 
rather  morehumanness,  Martha  thought,  than 
he  showed  to  the  students  generally  ;  and  once 
or  twice  when  the  princess  had  been  placed 
near  the  model's  little  retiring-room,  Martha 
had  had  the  joy  of  hearing  her  divinity  give 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  9 

the  summons,  in  the  usual  atelier  jargon, 
"  Cest  Theure  !  "  It  seemed  to  the  ^irl  a  most 
lovable  act  of  condescension  on  the  part  of 
her  Serene  Highness. 

One  day  (it  was  the  day  after  Etienne  had 
told  her  that  her  drawing  was  "  not  bad,"  and 
the  princess  had  smiled  at  her)  Martha  was 
working  away,  when  she  became  aware  that 
an  easel  was  being  pushed  into  the  unoccupied 
space  at  her  right  hand.  She  had  known  that 
some  one  would  soon  take  possession  of  this 
place,  and  she  did  not  even  look  round  to  see 
who  it  was.  Her  whole  attention  was  bent  on 
making  Etienne  see  that  his  encouragement 
had  yielded  good  fruit,  even  though  she  had 
made  no  verbal  acknowledgment  of  it.  She 
went  on  drawing,  with  intense  concentration, 
until,  weary  at  last,  she  put  down  her  charcoal, 
and  stood  resting  her  arms,  with  her  hands  on 
her  hips.  As  she  finished  her  scrutiny  of  her 
work,  and  looked  around,  she  started  to  dis- 
cover that  it  was  the  princess  who  was  seated 
at  the  easel  next  her  own,  and  was  looking 
full  at  her.  As  Martha,  confused  and  de- 
lighted, encountered  that  gaze,  the  beautiful 
lady's  lips  parted  in  a  friendly  smile,  and  she 
whispered  gently, 


io  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

"  Bon  jour." 

Martha  crimsoned  with  pleasure  as  she  re- 
turned the  greeting,  and  then  both  fell  to  work 
again.  The  princess  was  painting,  laying  on 
her  color  in  a  broad  and  daring  style  that  al- 
most frightened  her  neighbor.  Martha  watched 
her  furtively  while  she  crumbled  her  bread, 
and  pretended  to  be  erasing  and  touching  up 
certain  points  in  her  picture.  It  was  a  bewil- 
dering delight  to  her  to  stand  so  close  to  the 
princess  and  see  her  at  work,  and  she  was 
agreeably  aware  that  the  princess  was  also 
aware  of  her,  and  perhaps  even  pleased  at 
their  being  together. 

When  the  time  came  for  the  model  to  rest, 
and  the  quiet  of  the  room  was  a  little  relieved 
by  the  whispered  talk  that  sprang  up  among 
the  students  as  they  waited,  Martha  felt  that 
the  princess  had  inclined  toward  her  a  little, 
and  was  looking  at  her  work.  She  put  down 
as  childish  the  impulse  that  rushed  up  in  her 
to  cover  the  picture  from  sight,  or  to  say  how 
bad  she  knew  it  was,  and  she  stood  very  still 
and  very  much  embarrassed  until  the  princess 
said  again,  in  that  exquisite  utterance  of  French 
subtleties, 

"  C'est  bien  difficile,  n'est-ce  pas  ?  " 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  n 

Martha  answered  her  somehow — she  never 
knew  what. 

When  the  model  came  back,  and  they  began 
to  work  again,  she  felt  that  she  had  become 
part  of  a  wonderful  experience.  She  had 
never  seen  the  princess  talking  to  any  one 
else,  and,  amazing  and  undeserved  as  the  trib- 
ute was,  she  could  not  be  mistaken  in  thinking 
that  the  lovely  lady  wished  to  know  her,  and 
perhaps  to  allow  her  the  dear  privilege  of  such 
intercourse  as  their  atelier  life  permitted.  She 
never  expected  it  to  go  beyond  that ;  but  that 
was  far  more  than  anything  she  had  imagined. 

Across  one  corner  of  her  canvas  Martha's 
name  was  scrawled  in  full,  and  she  knew  that 
the  princess  must  have  seen  it.  She  looked  to 
see  if  there  was  any  signature  upon  the  prin- 
cess's picture,  and,  asif  interpreting  herthought, 
her  neighbor,  with  a  brilliant  smile,  dipped  her 
brush  in  vermilion,  and  wrote  in  a  bold,  strong 
hand  the  word  "  Sonia."  This  name  (which 
Martha  did  not  know  to  be  the  Russian  abbre- 
viation of  Sophia)  seemed  to  the  girl  very  odd 
and  beautiful,  and  peculiarly  appropriate  to  its 
possessor. 


II 


Martha  said  nothing  to  her  mother  and 
sisters  of  her  encounter  with  the  princess.  She 
had  a  way  of  locking  very  close  in  her  heart 
her  most  personal  and  sacred  feelings,  and  all 
that  related  to  the  princess  was  sacred  to  her 
now.  During  her  earlier  years  she  had  so 
often  been  laughed  at  for  an  enthusiast  that 
she  had  learned  to  keep  back  what  she  felt 
most  strongly ;  and  for  that  very  reason,  per- 
haps, the  intensity  of  her  feelings  grew  greater 
as  she  grew  older.  The  enthusiasm  of  her  life 
was  for  her  only  brother,  whom  she  worshiped 
with  a  blind  idolatry  of  the  extent  of  which 
even  he  was  unaware.  There  had  been  one 
or  two  other  divinities  in  her  horizon,  always 
second  to  Harold  ;  but  at  this  period  of  her 
life  she  was  suffering  from  a  sense  of  disap- 
pointment in  these  as,  one  after  the  other,  they 
had  come  short  of  her  ardent  expectations. 
She  was  now,  therefore,  in  the  exact  state  of 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  13 

mind  to  take  on  a  new  object  of  worship.  This 
the  princess  had  become. 

It  was  not  surprising  that  Martha's  ideal 
had  been  so  repeatedly  unrealized,  for  it  was 
a  difficult  one.  She  had  suffered  acutely  from 
her  former  disappointments,  and  had  even  re- 
solved never  to  pin  her  faith  and  hope  on  an- 
other woman.  But  the  princess  was  not  to  be 
resisted.  Martha  felt  that  even  if  her  goddess 
never  spoke  to  her  again,  she  was  worthy  of 
all  adoration. 

As  the  young  girl  drove  through  the  streets 
of  Paris  in  the  early  morning  of  the  day  fol- 
lowing her  brief  interview  with  the  princess, 
her  heart  was  very  happy. 

In  appearance  Martha  was  small  and  rather 
plain  ;  and  no  one  would  have  noticed  her,  per- 
haps, but  for  the  concentration  of  expression 
on  her  face  as  she  looked  out  of  the  carriage 
window  on  her  way  to  her  atelier  in  the  Latin 
Quarter.  The  people  abroad  at  that  hour  were 
not  of  a  class  to  pay  much  attention  to  such  a 
look  on  a  girl's  face.  The  little  army  of  street- 
cleaners,  occupying  their  brief  hour  with  busy 
industry  to  produce  the  beautiful  effect  of  gay 
cleanliness  which  the  world  enjoyed  later  in 
the  day,  had  no  time  to  notice  Martha,  and 


14  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

she  was  as  unaware  of  them.  Even  the  ice 
on  the  figures  in  the  fountains  of  the  Place 
de  la  Concorde,  which  she  generally  admired 
in  passing,  she  did  not  so  much  as  see  to-day. 
The  "cold  sea-maidens"  wore  an  unusually 
beautiful  veil  of  mist,  made  by  the  freezing 
spray,  and  Martha  might  have  got  an  impres- 
sion for  some  future  picture  if  she  had  studied 
it  with  the  early  sunlight  on  it. 

But  she  was  thinking  only  of  the  princess 
as  she  drove  alonir  and  crossed  the  bridge  and 
entered  old  Paris.  Here,  too,  all  was  familiar, 
for  Martha  had  taken  this  drive  daily  for 
months,  and  there  was  nothing  to  disturb  her 
preoccupation  until  she  reached  the  Invalides, 
where  her  hero-worshiping  soul  never  failed 
to  offer  a  passing  tribute  of  awe  to  the  ashes 
of  Napoleon. 

As  she  turned  into  a  cross  street  farther 
on,  a  little  funeral  procession  met  her.  This 
sight,  too,  was  familiar;  but  no  wont  and 
usage  could  keep  Martha  from  being  deeply 
moved  as  often  as  she  witnessed  the  pitiful 
little  ceremonial  which  attends  the  burial  of 
the  very  poor  in  Paris. 

It  is  usually  in  the  early  morning  that 
these  funerals  occur,  as  there  seems  to  be  a 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  15 

demand  upon  the  poor  to  give  up  to  the 
more  prosperous  even  the  space  in  the  streets 
which  they,  with  their  dead,  lay  claim  to  for 
so  short  a  time.  This  was  a  child's  funeral, 
or,  rather,  it  was  the  funeral  of  two  children. 
There  was  neither  hearse  nor  carriage.  Each 
little  coffin  was  borne  upon  a  wretched  bier 
carried  by  rough  and  shabby  men,  who  ap- 
peared cross  and  reluctant  in  their  miserable, 
faded  trappings  of  mourning.  Looking  care- 
fully, Martha  discovered  that  there  was  a 
separate  family  of  mourners  to  each  little 
bier;  and  as  the  whole  procession  was  under 
the  command  of  a  tall  old  man,  who  held  his 
shoulders  very  erect,  as  if  to  atone  for  a  limp 
in  one  leg,  she  comprehended  that  this  be- 
dizened old  undertaker,  with  the  ragged  crape 
on  his  cocked  hat  and  the  dirty  bunches  of 
black  and  white  ribbons  on  the  end  of  his 
long  staff  of  office,  had  consolidated  his  du- 
ties, probably  at  a  slight  and  very  welcome 
discount  to  his  poor  patrons,  and  was  bury- 
ing the  dead  of  two  families  at  once.  Directly 
after  him  came  the  bearers  of  the  light  coffin, 
and  just  behind  it  were  five  little  children, 
four  girls  and  a  boy,  walking  abreast,  and 
dressed   in   mourning.     This   mourning   con- 


16  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

sisted  of  hastily  fashioned  aprons  made  of 
dull  black  calico,  and  so  carelessly  fitted  that 
the  many-colored  undergarments  of  the  chil- 
dren showed  plainly  at  every  opening.  The 
children  were  regular  little  steps,  the  boy 
being  the  youngest ;  and  cold  as  it  was,  they 
were  all  bareheaded.  Each  carried  a  sprig 
of  yellow  bloom,  which  resembled,  if  indeed 
it  was  not,  the  mustard- flower.  This  they 
held  very  stiffly  and  correctly  in  their  right 
hands,  and  they  walked  with  an  air  of  the 
utmost  decorum.  Behind  them  came  their 
father  and  mother,  the  former  looking  more 
apathetic  than  sad,  and  the  latter  carrying 
with  some  complacency  the  dignity  of  a  dingy 
and  draggled  crape  veil,  in  frank  contrast  to 
a  blue-and-green  plaid  dress.  She  was  taller 
than  her  husband,  and  leaned  awkwardly 
upon  his  arm,  keeping  no  time  whatever  to 
his  shuffling'  gait  Then  came  the  other  cof- 
fin  and  the  second  group  of  mourners,  who 
were  evidently  not  so  fashionable  as  the  first ; 
for  they  made  no  effort  at  mourning,  and 
walked  after  their  little  dead  one  with  no- 
thing like  a  flower,  and  in  their  common 
working- clothes. 

While   Martha's  carriage  was   passing  this 


A   TALL   OLD' MAN." 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  17 

procession,  she  saw  on  the  other  side  of  them, 
eoine  in  the  same  direction  with  her,  a  smart 
turnout  in  which  a  gentleman  was  driving, 
with  a  eroom  behind.  The  horses  shone  like 
satin,  and  their  harness  jingled  and  glittered 
in  the  morning  sunshine.  The  gentleman  and 
his  servant  were  dressed  with  a  brilliant  effect 
of  care  and  detail.  The  former  was  smoking 
a  cigarette,  and  had  a  scarlet  flower  in  his  coat. 

As  the  little  funeral  procession  passed  this 
carriage,  the  young  swell  who  was  driving 
bared  his  head,  with  its  smoothly  parted  blond 
hair,  remaining  uncovered  until  the  procession 
had  passed,  his  servant  imitating  his  act.  This 
little  tribute  of  homage  to  death  which  the 
French  take  the  pains  to  perform  always 
touched  and  pleased  Martha.  She  thought  of 
the  absurdity  of  this  man's  uncovering  his  head 
to  that  pauper  baby  alive  ;  but  the  mystery  of 
death  imparted  to  it  a  majesty  which  the  equal 
mystery  of  life  could  not.  This  child  was  a  par- 
taker of  the  knowledge  of  the  unknown,  into 
which  Napoleon,  lying  near  by,  had  also  en- 
tered, and  was,  with  him,  divided  from  the 
merely  mortal. 

Martha  thought  of  this  as  she  watched  the 
showy  carriage,  which  had  relaxed  its  speed 


i8  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

for  a  moment,  whirling-  rapidly  away  toward 
the  outskirts  of  the  city.  She  wondered  where 
that  handsome,  prosperous-looking,  well-bred 
man  was  going  at  this  early  hour.  Probably 
to  fight  a  duel,  she  thought,  in  her  romantic 
way  !  Perhaps  in  a  few  hours'  time  he  might 
be  as  dead  as  the  poor  little  baby ;  and  per- 
haps there  was  some  one  who  loved  and  adored 
him  as  she  did  Harold ! 

These  were  the  ideas  which  filled  her  mind 
as  she  reached  the  atelier,  there  to  learn  that 
there  was  a  disappointment  about  the  model, 
who  had  failed  to  come. 

She  was  about  to  take  off  her  wraps,  and  go 
to  work  on  some  drawings  from  casts,  when 
an  exquisite  voice  behind  her  said  suddenly, 
"  Pardon,  mademoiselle,"  and  she  turned  to 
meet  the  gaze  of  the  princess  fixed  upon  her 
with  a  smile  of  lovely  friendliness. 

"What  are  you  going  to  do?"  she  said  in 
that  faultless  French  which  Martha  had  already 
admired. 

For  a  moment  the  girl  was  quite  overcome 
at  such  unexpected  graciousness.  Then  she 
managed  to  say  in  her  own  faulty  though  per- 
fectly fluent  French,  that  she  had  thought  she 
would  go  on  and  do  what  she  could  without  a 
model. 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  19 

tl  It  is  so  dull,  after  having  that  glorious  An- 
tonio to  pose  for  one,"  said  the  princess.  "  I 
am  not  in  the  humor,  and  my  carriage  is  gone. 
Yours,  perhaps,  is  gone  also.  Do  you  feel  like 
drawing  to-day  ?  Or  do  you,  perhaps,  feel 
more  like  calling  a  cab,  and  taking  a  drive 
with  me  ?      I  should  like  it.      Will  you  go  ?  " 

Martha  crimsoned  with  pleasure  as  she  ac- 
cepted the  invitation.  There  was  no  mistak- 
ing her  delight  at  the  suggestion. 

"  You  are  very  good  to  go,"  said  the  other, 
"  especially  as  you  know  nothing  of  me,  I 
suppose." 

"  I  know  only  that  you  are  the  princess — 
the  Russian  princess,"  said  Martha. 

Her  companion  frowned  slightly,  and,  Mar- 
tha thought,  looked  a  little  annoyed.  She  re- 
flected that  she  ought  not,  perhaps,  to  have  told 
her  that  her  secret  had  been  discovered. 

The  little  frown  soon  passed,  however,  and 
the  princess  smiled  genially  as  she  said : 

"  I  am  living  incognito  in  Paris  to  study 
painting,  and  I  do  not  go  into  the  world.  When 
I  am  not  working  I  am  often  bored,  and  I  fre- 
quently long  for  companionship.  You  make 
me  very  grateful  by  giving  me  yours  this 
morning." 


20  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

The  princess  was  very  tall  —  so  tall  that  when 
Martha  walked  at  her  side  she  had  to  turn  her 
face  upward  to  speak  to  her.  They  walked 
along  in  the  most  natural  companionship  until 
they  reached  a  cab-stand  near  by,  and  Martha 
thought  her  divinity  more  worshipful  than  ever 
as  she  stood  wrapped  in  her  long  cloak,  with  a 
large,  black-plumed  hat  crowning  her  beautiful 
head,  and  said  some  words  of  gentle  pity  about 
the  poor  old,  weak-kneed  cab-horses  drawn  up 
in  a  line. 

When  they  had  entered  a  cab,  and  were 
seated  side  by  side,  the  princess  said  abruptly  : 

"If  you  had  not  heard  something  of  me,  I 
should  have  told  you  nothing.  Why  should 
we  ask  questions  about  each  other  ?  We  meet 
to-day,  art  students  in  a  Paris  atelier,  and  we 
shall  part  to-morrow.  What  have  we  to  do  with 
formalities?  Of  you  I  know  that  you  are  a 
young  American  studying  painting  here,  and 
I  think,  in  a  way,  sympathetic  to  me.  I  am 
content  to  know  that,  and  no  more,  of  you. 
Do  you  feel  the  same  about  me  ?  " 

Martha  replied  eagerly  in  the  affirmative, 
and  in  five  minutes  the  two  had  come  to  a  per- 
fect understanding.  The  snrl  felt  her  awe  at 
being  in  "the  presence" gradually  fading  away, 


THE    PRINCESS    WAS    VERY    TALI.," 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  21 

as  this  winning  young  woman  sat  and  talked 
with  her  on  a  footing  of  friendly  equality.  It 
was  after  a  short  silence  between  them  that 
the  princess  said : 

"  There  are  one  or  two  things  that  it  will  be 
necessary  for  you  to  know — that  is,  if  you  like 
me  well  enough  to  come  to  see  me,  as  I  hope 
you  do.  I  am  living  in  the  Rue  Presbourg, 
and  when  you  come  to  see  me,  you  are  to  ask 
for  the  apartment  of  the  Princess  Manner- 
norff.     You  will  come,  will  you  not  ?  " 

"  Oh,  if  you  will  only  let  me,  it  will  be  my 
greatest  happiness  !  "  said  Martha.  "  I  can't 
understand  what  has  made  you  so  good  to 
me!" 

"  Simply,  I  like  you.  It  is  n't  hard  to  under- 
stand. I  've  noticed  you  a  long  time,  and  I  've 
liked  you  more  and  more.  I  like  your  manner  ; 
I  like  your  face ;  I  like  your  devotion  to  your 
work  ;   and  I  like  your  work." 

"  My  work  !  My  scratching  and  smudging, 
you  mean  !  Oh,  how  can  you  notice  it  or  care 
for  it  when  you  look  at  yours  ?  Every  one 
must  see  that  Etienne  knows  that  you  are  his 
best  pupil.  He  does  not  speak  to  any  one  as 
he  does  to  you,  and  you  must  know  as  well  as 
I  that  it  is  not  because  you  are  a  princess." 


22  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

"  Yes,  of  course  ;  I  know  that  perfectly  well. 
But  I  fancy  that  Etienne,  in  his  little  critical 
heart,  feels  that  he  has  n't  got  out  of  me  what 
he  looked  for  at  first.  At  least,  I  have  that 
idea  ;  and  you  see  I  have  studied  enough,  com- 
pared with  you,  to  be  a  great  deal  further 
ahead  of  you  than  I  am.  I  have  digged  and 
delved  for  that  treasure  more  than  you  realize. 
I  hope  to  do  something  tolerable  some  day  ; 
but  I  'm  not  as  confident  about  it  as  I  used  to 
be,  and  I  fear  Etienne  is  not,  either.  Oh,  I 
wish  I  could  !  " 

She  said  this  with  such  fervor,  and  followed 
it  by  such  a  wistful  sigh,  that  Martha,  who  had 
not  yet  taken  in  the  idea  that  the  princess 
might  not  be  the  all-fortunate  creature  she 
imagined,  felt  a  sudden  protest  against  the 
thought  of  her  wishing  for  anything  vainly. 

"  Surely  you  will !  "  she  said.  "  I  can't  ima- 
gine your  wanting  anything  very  much  with- 
out getting  it." 

The  princess  laughed,  throwing  up  her 
chin,  and  looking  at  Martha  with  an  indul- 
gent   smile. 

44  You  can't  ?  "  she  exclaimed.  <4  Well,  if  you 
take  the  trouble  to  continue  my  acquaintance, 
you  will  find   that  I  Ye  missed  pretty  much 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  23 

everything  in  life  that  I  very  greatly  wanted. 
It  is  sad,  but  true." 

Martha  did  not  answer,  but  she  looked  as 
if  she  would  like  to  speak  out  something  that 
was  on  her  mind,  and  her  companion  saw  this, 
and  said : 

"What  is  it?  Speak!  I  give  you  full  per- 
mission." 

"  It  was  nothing,"  said  Martha,  rather  con- 
fusedly. "I  was  wondering  about  you — as, 
of  course,  I  can't  help  doing.  I  don't  want  to 
be  told  things,  however.  I  would  far  rather 
imagine  how  they  are." 

"Very,  very  sensible.  I  see  that  I  shall  like 
you  more  and  more.  There  are  a  few  things, 
however,  which  it  will  be  well  for  you  to  know. 
For  instance,"  —  she  paused,  with  a  slight  look 
of  reluctance,  and  then  went  on  rapidly,  —  "  no 
doubt  you  wonder  whether  I  am  married." 

Martha's  eyes  confirmed  her. 

A  cloud  seemed  to  have  settled  with  sur- 
prising suddenness  upon  the  face  of  the  prin- 
cess. She  looked  fixedly  at  the  passing  pros- 
pect outside  the  window  as,  after  a  moment  of 
difficult  silence,  she  said  almost  brusquely : 

"  I  am  a  widow."  Then  she  turned  and 
looked  at  Martha.      "  You  will  understand,  for 


24  THE    PRINCESS    SOMA 

the  future,"  she  went  on  more  naturally,  "my 
wish  for  silence  on  this  subject.  I  am  living 
temporarily  in  Paris  with  my  aunt.  I  used  to 
know  French  society  well,  but  I  am  out  of  it 
now,  and  I  don't  regret  it.  Painting  is  the 
only  thing  I  really  care  for — that,  and  music, 
and  some  books  ;  some,  but  not  many.  Books 
give  such  false  ideas  of  life.  I  think  it  was 
what  I  read  in  books  that  led  me  to  expect  so 
much.  I  was  not  to  be  convinced  but  that  all 
the  happiness  I  imagined  was  quite  possible  ; 
and  when  it  would  not  come  to  me,  I  thought 
there  was  a  force  in  me  which  could  compel  it. 
As  a  rule,  I  Ve  given  that  idea  up ;  but  there 
are  times  even  yet  when  it  rises  and  conquers 
me.  I  know  it  is  very  foolish,  and  that  expe- 
rience cures  one  of  such  feelings,  but  I  'm  not 
altogether  cured  yet,  in  spite  of  hard  and  re- 
peated blows." 

Martha  had  listened  with  intense  interest, 
and  now,  as  her  companion  paused,  she  felt 
that  she  ought  to  volunteer,  on  her  part,  some 
sort  of  sketch  of  herself  and  her  surroundings. 

"  I  don't  care  to  tell  you  anything  about 
myself,"  she  said,  "  because  it 's  so  uninterest- 
ing. My  father  has  been  dead  a  great  many 
years  ;    mama  is  delicate  ;   and  we  live  in  Paris 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  25 

so  that  I  may  study  painting  and  the  younger 
girls  may  have  lessons.  We  go  to  America 
for  the  summers.  My  brother  is  the  eldest  of 
us,  and  he  lives  there.  The  younger  girls  are 
pretty,  and  mama  wishes  them  to  go  into  so- 
ciety and  to  be  admired.  She  used  also  to 
wish  this  for  me,  but  she  saw  how  I  hated  it, 
and  how  little  chance  I  had  in  it,  so  she  lets 
me  alone  now,  particularly  since  I  got  Harold 
to  speak  to  her." 

"Are  you  sure  that  she  would  not  disap- 
prove of  your  friendship  with  me,  knowing  of 
me  only  the  little  that  you  are  able  to  tell 
her?  '  ' 

"Yes;  I'm  certain  of  it.  She  would  n't 
mind.  She  knows  I  never  get  into  mischief. 
I  feel  perfectly  free  to  do  as  I  choose  about 
this,  and  I  don't  mean  to  mention  you  to  any 
one — not  because  there  would  be  any  objec- 
tion, but  because  you  are  too  sacred  to  me, 
and  if  you  let  me  be  your  friend,  I  can't  share 
that  knowledge  and  possession  with  any  one." 

Martha  was  determined  to  say  this,  but  she 
did  not  accomplish  it  without  a  good  deal  of 
hesitation  and  embarrassment.  Her  compan- 
ion looked  at  her  with  a  sort  of  wondering 
scrutiny. 


26  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

"  Where  do  you  get  that  earnest,  concen- 
trated nature,  I  wonder  —  so  different  from 
mine  !  "  she  said.  "  Does  it  go  with  the  Amer- 
ican character  ?  Your  words  are  very  foolish, 
child ;  but  it  is  so  long  since  any  one  has 
held  me  sacred  that  I  am  ridiculously  touched 
by  it." 

There  was  something  that  looked  like  rising 
tears  in  the  beautiful  eyes  of  the  princess  ;  but 
a  gay  little  laugh  soon  banished  the  shadow 
from  both  her  face  and  her  voice.  Suddenly 
she  sat  upright  and  said  : 

"  Suppose  you  come  home  with  me  now  !  I 
want  you  to  learn  the  ways  of  the  place,  so 
that  you  may  come  and  go  as  you  please. 
Will  you  come  with  me  there  to-day  ?  " 

Martha  agreed  at  once,  and  with  evident 
satisfaction  the  princess  leaned  out  of  the  win- 
dow, and  gave  the  address  to  the  cabman. 


Ill 


Martha  felt  herself  in  a  dream  of  delight  as 
she  descended  from  the  cab,  and,  following  the 
princess  into  the  courtyard  of  a  large  apart- 
ment-house in  the  Rue  Presbourg,  mounted 
the  stairs  at  her  side. 

Their  ring  was  answered  by  a  foreign-look- 
ing man-servant,  to  whom  the  princess  spoke 
in  a  tongue  which  Martha  recognized  as  Rus- 
sian, but  of  which  she  understood  not  a  word. 
She  saw,  however,  that  it  related  to  herself; 
for  the  servant,  who  wore  a  curious  and  elabo- 
rate livery,  looked  at  her  and  bowed. 

"  I  have  been  telling  him,"  explained  the 
princess,  "  that  whenever  you  come  you  are  to 
be  brought  at  once  to  my  private  sitting-room, 
whether  I  am  at  home  to  other  people  or  not. 
If  it  should  chance  that  I  cannot  see  you, — 
an  unlikely  thing,  for  I  generally  do  what  I 
want,  and  I  shall  always  want  to  see  you, — 
my  maid  can  bring  you  word  there.    You  see, 


23  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

I  am  not  going  to  take  any  risk  of  having  you 
turned  away  from  my  door." 

The  antechamber  into  which  they  had  been 
admitted  was  charmingly  furnished,  not  at 
all  in  the  French  style ;  and  there  was  some- 
thing in  the  whole  environment  of  the  princess 
which  commended  itself  strongly  to  Martha's 
artistic  taste.  Everything  that  she  saw,  as 
she  passed  along,  deepened  this  impression. 
She  followed  her  companion  in  excited  silence 
through  the  antechamber,  and  into  the  large 
and  sunny  salon,  where  two  persons  were 
sitting. 

One  was  a  little  old  lady  with  very  white 
hair,  elaborately  arranged  under  a  queer-look- 
ing lace  cap  fastened  with  jeweled  pins ;  the 
other  was  a  dark  and  severely  dressed  woman, 
who,  Martha  at  once  saw,  was  a  sort  of  com- 
panion or  maid.  As  the  princess  approached, 
this  woman  rose  and  courtesied.  The  old  lady 
looked  up,  with  some  surprise  in  her  placid 
face,  and  immediately  laid  down  her  embroi- 
dery, and  took  up  a  silver  ear-trumpet,  holding 
out  her  other  hand  to  the  princess. 

The  latter  bent,  and  kissed  the  proffered 
fingers  lightly,  and  then,  raising  her  voice 
a  little,  uttered  several  sentences  in  Russian 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  29 


into  the  trumpet,  at  the  same  time  indicating 
Martha  in  a  way  that  made  her  understand 
that  this  was  an  introduction.  The  girl  also 
bent,  and  kissed  the  hand  now  extended  to 
her,  and  then  the  princess  led  her  away. 

"  My  poor  aunt  is  so  deaf,"  she  said,  "that 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  talk  to  her,  and  I 
could  not  go  into  any  long  explanation  about 
you.  She  never  interferes  with  me,  however, 
and  no  questions  will  be  asked.  Come  now 
to  my  own  room." 

Martha,  following  her  companion,  found 
herself  in  a  small  boudoir  opening  into  a 
bedroom.  The  door  of  the  latter  was  open, 
and  the  two  apartments  gave  an  impression 
which  she  told  herself  she  could  best  describe 
by  the  word  lovable.  The  musical  instru- 
ments stood  open.  The  lounges  and  chairs 
seemed  to  have  taken  the  shapes  of  their 
occupants.  Flowers  that  looked  as  if  they 
had  been  willingly  plucked  were  all  about 
in  vases.  Well-worn  volumes  and  drawing- 
books  were  scattered  about,  and  some  of  the 
princess's  atelier  studies  were  placed  against 
the  walls  on  the  floor.  Martha,  who  could 
hardly  believe  in  her  good  fortune  in  having 
received  even  the  smallest  notice  from  the 


30  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

princess,  was  yet  more  bewildered  and  de> 
lighted  when  the  latter  crossed  the  little  bou- 
doir, and  led  her  into  the  bedroom. 

Here  the  French  maid  whom  Martha  had 
seen  at  the  atelier  sat  sewing.  She  stood 
up,  evidently  surprised.  As  she  courtesied, 
and  came  forward  to  take  her  lady's  wraps, 
the  latter  hastily  threw  her  cloak  to  her,  and 
then,  striking  her  hands  together  with  a 
quick  little  clap,   said : 

"Va-t'en,   Felicie!" 

The  maid  smiled.  She  and  her  mistress 
evidently  understood  each  other  well.  Deftly 
gathering  up  her  work,  she  left  the  room, 
and  Martha  found  herself  alone  with  her 
divinity,  in  the  privacy  of  her  own  bedroom. 
She  felt  quite  foolishly  happy.  Perhaps  the 
princess  saw  it,  for  she  said,  with  her  bewil- 
dering smile : 

"  You  like  it,  do  you  not  ?  You  need  n't 
explain.  I  see  you  do,  just  as  I  saw  that 
you  liked  me,  without  your  saying  a  word. 
I  am  so  glad." 

"Like  you!"  said  Martha,  protestingly. 
"Oh!" 

Then  the  princess  came  and  stood  in  front 
of  the  young  girl,  and  put  her  arms  around 


IT    WILL    BE    QUITE    SAFE,    I    SEE. 


THE    PRINCESS    SONIA  31 

her   neck,   clasping   her   long   hands   at   the 
back,  and  looking  down  at  her. 

"It  will  be  quite  safe,  I  see,"  she  said,  still 
smiling,  "for  me  to  make  my  confession  to 
you,  and  own  that  I  was  drawn  to  you  in 
quite  an  extraordinary  way.  I  really  did  not 
mean  to  go  so  fast,  however;  and  if  I  had 
stopped  to  think,  I  should  probably  not  have 
proposed  to  you  to  take  this  drive  with  me. 
But  for  once  I  am  glad  that  I  did  not  stop 
to  think.  My  impetuosity  is  generally  my 
bane  in  everything.  This  time  I  feel  that 
it  has  brought  me  a  blessing.  I  can  prove 
to  you  that  it  is  not  my  habit  to  go  out  to 
strangers  in  this  way  by  the  fact  that  I  am 
so  friendless.  I  have  no  intimate  friend  in 
Paris,  though  I  know  scores  of  people  here. 
If  I  like  you,  and  want  to  see  more  of  yout 
and  you  have  the  same  feeling  toward  me, 
why  should  we  not  indulge  ourselves  ?  Very 
well !  So  we  will !  "  and  she  bent,  and  kissed 
Martha  on  the  cheek. 

The  girl's  heart  quivered  with  joy ;  but  she 
could  find  no  words  in  which  to  express  it, 
so  she  was  quite  silent.  She  felt  herself  very 
stupid  as  she  let  the  princess  take  off  her 
wraps  and  hat,  and  lead  her  to  a  seat. 


32  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

"Now,"  said  the  lovely  lady,  "as  I  am 
one  of  those  people  who  must  be  comfort- 
able before  they  can  be  happy,  I  am  going  to 
put  on  a  loose  gown.  No  excuses  necessary, 
I  know." 

She  disappeared  for  a  moment,  and  came 
back  in  an  exquisite  garment  of  pale-blue  silk 
with  borderings  of  dark  fur.  She  had  seemed 
to  Martha  very  splendid  and  beautiful  before, 
but  now  she  was  so  winning,  so  sweet,  so 
adorable,  that  the  young  girl  felt  her  whole 
heart  glow  with  delight  as,  with  a  long-drawn 
sigh  of  ease,  the  princess  threw  herself  on  the 
lounge  at  her  side. 

"  Now,"  she  said,  as  her  hand  closed  on 
Martha's,   "talk  to  me." 

Poor  Martha  !  What  could  she  say?  Her 
gratefulness  for  this  unexpected  confidence 
and  friendliness  moved  her  almost  to  tears, 
but  she  was  silent. 

"Talk  to  me,  Martha,"  said  the  princess, 
coaxingly.  "  I  may  call  you  that,  may  I 
not?" 

She  called  it  "  Mart'a,"  with  her  pretty 
foreign  utterance  ;  and  Martha  thought  her 
homely  name  had  suddenly  become  ador- 
able.     But  she  could   not  even   tell    this  to 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  33 

the  princess.  How  dull  and  stupid  she  was ! 
Her  consent  must  have  shown  itself  in  her 
eyes,  however,  for  the  princess  went  on : 

"I  can't  call  you  Martha  unless  you  call 
me  by  my  name,  too.  Will  you?  I  have 
a  fancy  to  hear  you  say  it  now.  Will  you 
call  me  by  my  little  Russian  name — Sonia?" 

It  was  evident  that  the  girl's  silence  did 
not  offend  her.  She  must  have  understood  its 
basis,  for  she  said,  with  an  encouraging  smile : 

"Say  it.     Say  '  Sonia.'" 

"  Oh,  you  are  too  good  to  me ! "  exclaimed 
Martha.  "  You  spoke  of  knowing  that  I 
liked  you.  I  don't  like  you  —  I  love  you! 
I  don't  love  you — I  adore  you!  O  Sonia!" 
and  the  girl  actually  slipped  from  the  low 
chair  to  her  knees  beside  the  lounge. 

The  princess  jumped  to  her  feet,  and  with 
strong  hands  lifted  Martha  to  hers;  then 
holding  both  the  girl's  hands,  and  stretching 
her  arms  apart  to  their  full  length,  as  their 
two  faces  were  drawn  together  thus,  she 
kissed  Martha  with  affectionate  warmth. 

"  What  a  dear  thing  you  are ! "  she  said. 
"  How  good  it  is  to  see  some  one  who  can 
really  feel !  How  tired  one  gets  of  the  fin- 
de-siecle    spirit    in    both   women    and    men ! 


34  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

Bless  you,  my  Martha !  You  have  come  to 
be  a  great  joy  in  my  life.  I  feel  that  we 
are  going  to  be  friends  for  always — do 
you  ?  " 

"  Oh,  if  you  will  let  me  !  If  you  will  only 
not  be  disappointed  in  me !  I  am  afraid  to 
speak,  afraid  to  breathe  almost,  for  fear  that 
you  will  find  out  that  I  am  only  a  poor,  com- 
monplace little  creature,  in  whom  your  good- 
ness has  made  you  see  something  which  does 
not  exist.  Oh,  I  pray  I  may  not  disappoint 
you !     And  yet  how  can  I  dare  to  hope  ? " 

"  Listen,  Martha,"  said  the  princess  in  a 
matter-of-fact  tone,  as  she  drew  the  other 
down  to  a  seat  beside  her  on  the  lounge ; 
"let  us  take  each  other  quite  simply,  and  not 
promise  anything.  We  will  just  agree  to  be 
perfectly  natural  with  each  other — just  to 
be  ourselves.  If  you  continue  to  like  me, 
and  I  you,  it  is  all  right.  If  not,  we  shall 
have  broken  no  pledges  and  done  each  other 
no  wrong.  Now,  with  that  basis  to  go  upon, 
we  can  both  feel  natural  and  satisfied.  Only 
don't  cover  up  your  real  self  to  me,  for  you 
may  be  concealing  just  what  I  love,  and  pre- 
tending what  I  hate.  It  is  because  you  are 
different   from   others  that    I    have  been    so 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  35 

drawn   to    you.      Now   don't    try   to  be   like 
other  people,   and  ruin  everything." 

"  Oh,  I  feel  I  can  be  myself  with  you.  I 
feel  I  can  tell  you  everything  that  is  in 
my  heart,  and  talk  of  things  that  I  have 
never  been  able  to  speak  of  to  others.  How 
beautiful  it  is!  How  strange  that  such  a 
relationship  between  two  women  can  come 
about  here  in  Paris  in  this  age  of  the 
world ! " 

"  It  could  not  if  we  were  Parisians ;  but 
both  of  us  being  foreign  to  this  atmosphere, 
it  can.  I  love  your  being  an  American.  I  felt 
sure  you  were  even  before  I  asked  Etienne." 

''And  did  he  tell  you?  I  have  always  un- 
derstood that  he  never  answered  questions 
about  his  students." 

11  So  have  I ;  but  I  asked  him  all  the  same, 
and  he  told  me  who  you  were.  I  had  quite 
fancied  you  before,  and  after  that  I  fancied 
you  still  more,  as  I  love  the  ideal  of  the  Amer- 
ican, a  creature  newer  from  Nature's  hands, 
and  nearer  to  her  heart,  than  we  of  the  Old 
World ;  and,  fortunately  or  otherwise,  I  have 
known  too  few  of  your  people  either  to  con- 
firm or  contradict  this  idea.  So  now  I  think 
I  shall  go  on  liking  you.     And  how  is  it  with 


36  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

you  ?  Do  you  think  you  will  not  be  disap- 
pointed in  me? " 

Her  beautiful  lips  widened  in  a  smile  of 
broad  amusement  that  made  her  eyes  twin- 
kle. Martha  looked  at  her  with  a  speechless 
adoration  which  she  could  not  have  been 
so  dense  as  to  misunderstand. 

"  How  delightful  !  "  said  the  princess.  "  It 
has  been  so  long  since  I  have  permitted  my- 
self the  luxury  of  a  friend  that  my  appetite 
for  one  is  all  the  keener." 

She  had  thrown  herself  back  on  the  lounge, 
and  as  Martha  sat  down  by  her,  the  princess 
again  took  her  hand,  saying  as  she  did  so : 

"  Now  I  will  tell  you  two  things  about  my- 
self at  the  outset  of  our  acquaintance :  one  is 
that  I  love  to  ask  questions ;  the  other  is  that 
I  hate  to  be  questioned.  Will  you  remember 
these  facts,  and  will  you  be  as  frank  with  me 
if  I  do  what  you  don't  like  ?  I  am  very  nearly 
certain  that  we  shall  get  on  together  admir- 
ably, for  the  reason  that  I  know  you  have  no 
vulgar  curiosity  about  me  or  my  affairs.  You 
have  sense  enough  to  be  convinced  by  one 
look  at  my  aunt,  if  there  were  nothing  else, 
that  I  am  respectable.  Now  I  am  pretty 
confident  that  you   have  an   impulse  to  talk 


THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 


37 


out  freely  to   me,  and  to   answer  any  ques- 
tions that  I  may  choose  to  put  —  all  the  more 


"«AH,   I   HAVE   MADE  A  MISTAKE,  I   SEE.'" 

so  because  your  general  habit  is  one  of  strict 
reserve." 

The  princess  kept  her  eye  on  her  compan- 
ion's face  while  she  was  talking,  and  she  could 
tell  by  its  expression  that  she  had  interpreted 
her  correctly.  She  said  so,  with  a  little  laugh 
of  contentment,  and  then  added : 

"Tell  me  about  yourself  first  of  all." 

Martha's  countenance  fell. 


38  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

"Ah,  I  have  made  a  mistake,  I  see,"  said 
the  princess.  "  We  have  not  come  to  that  yet ; 
but  we  will  come  to  it  —  you  and  I.  Some  of 
these  days  you  will  find  yourself  telling  me 
all  those  close-locked  secrets  of  your  heart ; 
and  yet  even  they,  I  fancy,  will  relate  more  to 
others  than  to  yourself.  So  be  it !  I  can  wait. 
Tell  me  now  about  your  people  —  your  family 
here  in  Paris." 

"Well,"  began  Martha,  "there  are  mama 
and  we  four  girls  —  Alice,  Marian,  Florence, 
and  I.  Alice  is  very  handsome,  and  poor  mama 
has  had  to  shift  over  to  her  and  to  the  younger 
girls,  who  also  bid  fair  to  be  charming,  all  the 
hopes  which  she  once  centered  in  me.  I  have 
been  struggled  with  for  years,  and  finally  let 
alone.  Mama  agrees  to  my  working  at  my 
painting  because  she  has  made  up  her  mind 
that  unless  I  amount  to  something  in  that  I 
shall  never  amount  to  anything  at  all ;  but  I 
don't  think  she  has  much  hope  of  me.  She 
is  not  far  from  beautiful  herself,  and  is  ac- 
customed to  being  admired,  and  it  took  her 
a  long  time  to  accept  my  indifference  to  it. 
However,  it 's  quite  accepted  now  ;  and  I  even 
think  that,  with  three  other  girls  to  be  taken 
into  society,  she  finds  a  certain  relief  in  leav- 


ALICE    HAS   A   FINE    VOICE. 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  39 

ing  me  out  of  it.  The  other  girls  are  study- 
ing music  and  languages.  Alice  has  a  fine 
voice." 

"  And  your  father  is  dead,  is  he  not?  Did 
you  not  say  you  had  a  brother  ?  " 

Martha's  face  grew  quite  white  with  the 
concentration  of  mind  which  this  thought 
produced. 

"  Yes ;  I  have  a  brother,"  she  said. 

"  Forgive  me,"  said  the  princess,  with  swift 
sympathy.  "  There  is  evidently  some  reason 
why  it  pains  you  to  speak  of  your  brother. 
Forget  that  I  asked  you." 

The  blood  rushed  to  Martha's  face  as  it 
occurred  to  her  that  her  companion  might 
misunderstand  her  reluctance  to  speak  on 
this  subject. 

"  It  's  not  that  I  am  not  proud  of  him  that 
it  is  hard  for  me  to  speak,"  she  said;  "it's 
expressly  because  I  am.  I  made  up  my  mind 
long  ago  not  to  talk  about  Harold.  I  found  I 
must  not,  because  I  could  not  speak  of  him 
with  any  freedom  without  saying  things  that 
people  would  think  no  merely  mortal  man 
deserved.  I  have  worshiped  him  all  my  life, 
and,  as  I  'm  rather  ashamed  to  own,  I  've  had 
a  great  many  other  idols  which  turned  out 


4o  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

to  be  made  of  clay.  This  one,  however,  has 
never  proved  for  an  instant  unworthy  of  my 
adoration." 

The  princess  smiled. 

"  One  would  like  to  get  a  look  at  him,"  she 
said.  "  An  absolutely  faultless  being  must  be 
interesting  to  look  at." 

"  Don't  laugh  at  me  !  "  cried  Martha.  "  If 
it  were  any  one  but  you  I  could  not  bear  it ; 
but  I  know  you  would  say  or  do  nothing  that 
could  hurt  me  really.  I  don't  wish  you  to 
understand  that  I  think  Harold  faultless.  He 
is  not.  But  to  one  who  understands  him  as  I 
do,  his  very  faults  are  part  of  his  greatness. 
They  all  have  their  seat  in  something  noble, 
and  to  see  how  he  fights  to  conquer  them  is  a 
thing  that  thrills  me.  He  is  now  off  in  Amer- 
ica hard  at  work.  He  has  done  some  quite 
extraordinary  things  in  electricity,  and  is  ab- 
sorbed in  his  career.  When  I  am  a  little  older, 
and  mama  gives  me  up  as  a  hopeless  job  for 
society,  I  am  to  go  and  live  with  Harold,  and 
keep  house  for  him.  That  is  my  dream  and 
his." 

"  Sooner  or  later,  dear  child,  you  will  have 
to  wake  from  that  dream.  I  do  not  find  it  as 
unlikely  as  you  seem  to  that  you  will  marry ; 


THE    PRINCESS    SONIA  41 

and  even  if  you  should  not,  your  brother 
probably  will." 

The  princess  was  smiling,  but  her  smile 
faded  at  the  look  of  tragic  pain  in  her  com- 
panion's face.  She  could  see  that  the  young 
girl  had  been  touched  in  her  heart's  tenderest 
place. 

"  No,"  she  said,  with  that  frown  of  sadness 
unrelaxed,  "  he  will  never  marry." 

"Forgive  me  again,  dear  Martha,"  said  the 
princess.  "  Your  brother  has  had  some  dis- 
appointment, about  which  your  heart  is  as 
sensitive  as  his  own.  I  see  that,  and  you  need 
tell  me  no  more.  It  is  good  that  he  has  you 
to  comprehend  and  sympathize  with  him.  It 
is  good  that  you  have  each  other.  If  you  gave 
your  heart  and  life  to  a  husband  as  wholly  as 
you  have  given  them  to  your  brother,  he  would 
probably  break  the  heart  and  wreck  the  life, 
and  even  the  right  to  dream  would  be  taken 
from  you.  Living  with  this  brother,  whom  you 
love  and  worship  so,  whether  he  deserves  it  or 
not,  you  may  have  many  a  sweet  and  joy-giv- 
ing dream  which  no  reality  would  equal.  I 
wish  I  could  make  you  see  how  fortunate  you 
are." 

"  I  care  very  little  for  my  own  happiness," 


42  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

said  Martha,  too  absorbed  to  realize  that  she 
was  saying  anything  that  called  for  comment. 
"  All  that  I  care  for  is  to  give  Harold  a  little 
comfort  and  calm.  He  can  never  be  happy 
again." 

"  He  tells  you  so,  dear  child,  and  no  doubt 
he  believes  it.  I  tell  you  it  will  pass.  Men  do 
not  grieve  perpetually  for  women.  I  know 
them  better  than  you  do." 

"  You  do  not  know  this  man.  If  you  ima- 
gine that  he  is  like  any  other  man  in  the  world, 
you  are  wrong.  He  could  not  get  over  this 
sorrow  and  be  the  man  that  he  is.  It  is  simply 
a  thing  impossible  to  him.  Not  that  he  shows 
it !  It  has  been  two  years  since  it  happened, 
and  no  doubt  every  one  except  myself  thinks 
he  has  recovered.  I  dare  say  he  wants  to  have 
it  so,  and  he  's  generally  cheerful  and  bright. 
Even  to  me  he  never  says  a  word,  but  I  think 
he  knows  that  I  understand.  At  all  events,  he 
knows  that,  though  it  is  the  desire  of  my  life 
to  go  and  live  with  him,  I  would  never  do  him 
the  wrong  to  suppose  that  I  could  make  him 
happy." 

"  He  has,  then,  it  would  seem,  the  same  ar- 
dent  temperament  as  yours.  Dear  me  !  how 
odd  it  would  be  to  see  a  man  like  that  in  this 


IN    THE    AMERICAN    COLONY 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  43 

generation  !  Was  this  woman  very  cruel  to 
him  that  you  resent  it  so  ?  " 

"Resent  it!"  said  Martha,  dropping  her 
companion's  hand,  to  clasp  her  own  hands  to- 
gether. "  Even  to  you  I  can't  talk  about  that. 
I  should  either  cry  like  a  fool  or  rage  like  a 
fury.  I  know  very  little  about  what  happened, 
except  that  she  has  utterly  ruined  Harold's 
life,  and  cut  him  off  from  everything  that 
makes  life  sweet." 

"  You  allow  yourself  to  suffer  too  much  for 
him,  perhaps,"  the  princess  said.  "  I  am  not 
going  to  antagonize  you  at  the  outset  by  say- 
ing all  that  I  might  say  to  you  on  this  subject, 
but  believe  me,  my  little  ingenue,  I  could  give 
you  points  about  men.  I  will  not  do  it  now, 
however,  and  I  will  even  show  my  willingness 
to  spare  you  by  changing  the  subject.  Tell 
me  about  Alice.  Is  she  really  so  handsome? 
Does  she  go  into  society  ?  Where  could  one 
see  her? " 

"  Yes ;  she  goes  out  a  good  deal  —  in  the 
American  colony,  principally.  I  don't  think 
there  is  any  doubt  that  she  's  handsome." 

"  Then  I  'm  all  the  more  unfortunate  in  hav- 
ing no  acquaintance  in  the  American  colony. 
Does  she  look  like  you?" 


44  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

"No;  the  fact  is  —  "  Martha  blushed,  and 
was  in  evident  confusion,  as  she  went  on  — 
"  the  fact  is,  I  'm  considered  like  Harold.  Not 
really,  you  know,  because  no  one  can  deny 
that  he  's  magnificent ;  but  there  's  said  to  be 
a  sort  of  family  likeness." 

"  Well,  I  can  believe  that,  my  dear,  without 
absolute  insult  to  your  brother.  Is  Alice  much 
admired  ?  " 

"  Yes,  a  good  deal  ;  but  she  's  engaged  now, 
and  so  she  is  not  noticed  as  much  as  she  was." 

"  Oh,  she  's  engaged,  is  she  ?  And  when  is 
she  to  be  married  ?  " 

"The  day  is  not  fixed,  but  it  will  be  before 
long.  The  trousseau  is  being  bought  now. 
Her  fiance  is  an  Italian  officer  of  very  good 
family,  though  not  much  fortune.  Still,  Alice 
is  happy,  and  mama  is  satisfied,  and  Harold 
has  given  his  consent.  He  is  coming  over  to 
the  wedding.  Oh,  if  you  could  see  him — and 
he  could  see  you  !  " 

"  His  seeing  me  is  wholly  unnecessary  ;  but 
the  other  part  might  be  accomplished.  It 
would  be  a  good  idea  to  give  me  a  card  to  the 
wedding  if  it  takes  place  in  a  church.  Then  I 
could  see  all  your  people  without  their  seeing 
me,  and  probably  disapproving  of  our  intimacy 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  45 

and  breaking  it  up — or  else  putting  it  on  a 
footing  that  would  have  no  comfort  in  it." 

"  How  could  they  disapprove  ?  "  said  Mar- 
tha, deeply  hurt.  "  How  could  they  be  any- 
thing but  honored  that  I  should  be  noticed  at 
all  by  a  great  princess  like  you  ? " 

"  Oh,  there  's  no  greatness  about  this  prin- 
cess, child,"  said  the  other,  laughing.  "  Don't 
expect  to  see  me  going  around  with  a  throne 
to  sit  on,  in  either  a  literal  or  a  figurative 
sense.  To  you  I  am  only  Sonia  — a  fact  which 
you  seem  to  have  forgotten,  by  the  way  !  I 
wish  you  'd  call  me  Sonia,  and  stop  thinking 
about  the  princess.  With  your  American  ideas 
it,  no  doubt,  seems  much  more  important  than 
it  is.  Are  you  going  to  tell  your  people  about 
me  really  or  not  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Martha;  "  I  wouldn't  for  the 
world.  It  may  be  selfish,  but  I  want  you  all 
to  myself." 

This  was  perfectly  true;  but  at  the  same 
time,  ignore  it  as  she  might,  there  was  a  lurk- 
ing feeling  in  Martha's  heart  that  the  princess 
was  right  in  imagining  that  if  her  mother 
knew  of  the  friendship  that  had  sprung  up 
between  the  two  students  at  Etienne's,  she 
might  insist  upon  investigating  the  princess 


46  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

— an    indignity   which   Martha   felt   that   she 
could  not  endure. 

The  princess  herself  seemed  pleased  at  Mar- 
tha's evident  wish  to  monopolize  her ;  and  the 
two  parted  at  last  with  the  confidence  and 
affection  of  old  friends. 


IV 


The  days  at  the  atelier  had  now  a  new 
interest  for  both  students,  and  their  work  was 
manifestly  the  better  for  it.  To  Martha  these 
days  were  filled  with  a  glorious  delight,  which 
seemed  to  give  her  all  that  her  nature  craved; 
and  if  it  had  not  been  for  sad  thoughts  of  her 
brother  and  his  loneliness,  she  would  have  felt 
that  she  could  ask  for  nothing. 

To  have  the  princess  painting  near  her, 
and  to  be  able  to  look  up  and  see  her  beau- 
tiful figure,  with  its  sinuous  grace,  posed  be- 
fore her  easel,  and  to  receive  from  her  now 
and  then  a  brilliant  smile  of  mutual  com- 
prehension, was  quite  enough  of  personal 
bliss  for  Martha  Keene. 

Martha  had  an  ardent  and  romantic  tem- 
perament, but  she  seemed  to  be  capable  of 
satisfying  its  needs  vicariously.  There  un- 
doubtedly are  such  women,  though  the  like 
has  possibly  never  existed  in  the  other  sex. 


48  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

For  instance,  it  was  a  continual  battle  with 
her  now  to  put  down  the  temptation,  which 
constantly  assailed  her,  of  imagining  a  meet- 
ing, an  attraction,  and  finally  a  union  between 
the  brother  who  realized  her  romantic  ideal 
of  man  and  the  friend  who  realized  his  com- 
plement in  woman's  form.  She  knew  it  was 
impossible.  She  knew  that  Harold  would 
never  marry;  and  she  even  realized  that  if 
he  could  love  again,  after  the  manner  in 
which  he  had  loved  one  woman,  he  would, 
by  that  fact,  compel  her  to  lower  her  stan- 
dard either  of  love  or  of  him. 

And  yet  Martha  felt  that  the  meeting  and 
blending  of  these  two  lives  would,  if  she 
could  have  seen  it,  have  satisfied  every  need 
of  her  heart.  She  believed  that  her  pleasure 
and  contentment  in  looking  on  at  such  a 
union  as  this  would  give  her  the  greatest  joy 
that  could  be  for  her — would  indeed,  in  a 
way,  give  her  the  feeling  of  satisfied  love. 

It  was  very  hard  to  put  down  these  im- 
aginings ;  but  she  told  herself  that  it  must  be 
done.  Harold's  life  and  love  had  been  given 
once,  and  she  knew  he  was  right  in  saying 
that  they  were  not  his  to  give  again ;  and  on 
the  princess's  part,  no  doubt  the  idea  would 


THE    PRINCESS    SONIA  49 

be  a  wild  suggestion,  indeed.  Martha  did 
not  know  what  rigid  laws  of  etiquette  and 
convention  might  not  bind  the  princess;  and 
condescending  as  the  latter  had  chosen  to  be 
with  regard  to  herself,  she  felt  that  this  beau- 
tiful lady  would  never  do  anything  unworthy 
of  her  caste.  Her  husband,  whether  she  had 
loved  him  or  not,  had  no  doubt  been  a  great 
prince,  whose  name  and  title  the  woman  on 
whom  he  had  bestowed  them  would  never 
consent  to  debase.  The  thing  was  hopeless 
and  wrong,  of  course,  and  the  idea  must  be 
put  away  from  her.  But  it  was  hard  to  do, 
with  her  hero  constantly  in  her  mind,  and 
her  heroine  constantly  before  her  eyes. 

One  day,  after  an  unusually  hard  morn- 
ing's work,  the  princess  invited  Martha  to 
go  home  to  lunch  with  her,  and  to  spend 
the  afternoon  at  the  Louvre,  looking  together 
at  the  pictures  which  they  had  so  often 
enjoyed  apart. 

When  they  reached  the  apartment  in  the 
Rue  Presbourg,  the  princess  was  informed 
that  her  aunt  had  already  finished  her  sec- 
ond breakfast,  which  she  took  with  the  regu- 
larity of  clockwork,  not  depending  upon  the 
comings    and    goings    of   the   rather   erratic 


50  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

person  who  was  the  other  member  of  the 
family.  This  the  princess  explained  lightly, 
as  she  led  the  way  to  the  dining-room.  The 
servants  by  this  time  all  knew  Martha;  and 
they  looked  upon  her,  as  the  friend  of  their 
mistress,  with  the  most  amiable  glances.  Not 
speaking  the  Russian  language,  Martha  could 
show  her  good  will  only  by  a  pleasant  smile, 
in  return  for  the  evident  pleasure  which  they 
showed  in  serving  her. 

The  princess  threw  her  wrap  backward  over 
the  chair,  as  she  sat  at  the  head  of  the  round 
table,  with  her  slender  figure  against  a  back- 
ground of  dark  sable,  and  her  head,  in  its  large 
plumed  hat,  standing  out  from  a  halo  of  many- 
hued  old  stained-glass  in  the  window  behind. 
Martha,  sitting  opposite,  fell  into  an  uncon- 
sciously intent  scrutiny  of  her  face. 

It  was  certainly  safe,  Martha  thought,  to 
call  this  face  beautiful,  both  for  feature  and 
character.  The  eyes  were  large,  dark,  bril- 
liant, and  fervidly  suggestive.  One  wondered 
what  those  eyes  had  seen,  were  seeing,  and 
were  capable  of  discovering  for  others.  The 
hair  was  a  brilliant,  waving  brown,  arranged 
in  a  loose  mass  that  was  still  firm  and  lovely 
in  its  outline — hair,  as  Martha  thought,  that 


fm 


HER    HEAD.  IN    ITS    LARGE    PLUMED    HAT. 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  51 

it  must  be  sweet  to  touch  with  fingers  and  with 
lips.  Also  the  girl  thought  one  might  well 
long  to  prove  by  touch  whether  that  white  skin 
was  as  smooth  and  fine  as  it  looked.  The  firm, 
short  nose  was  definitely  pointed,  and  tilted 
upward,  slightly  lifting  with  it  the  short  upper 
lip.  Her  chin  was  bewitching — at  once  strong 
and  alluring.  The  mouth  was  very  individual, 
and,  as  Martha  studied  it,  she  concluded  that 
if  she  could  tell  why  it  was  so  charming,  half 
the  charm  would  be  gone.  For  the  first  time 
it  occurred  to  her  to  wonder  how  old  the  prin- 
cess was. 

"  You  are  wondering  how  old  lam!"  said 
the  princess,  almost  taking  the  girl's  breath 
away. 

"  I  never  knew  anything  so  strange  !  "  ex- 
claimed Martha.  "It  was  the  very  thought  I 
had  in  my  mind." 

"  Certainly,  I  read  it  there  !  I  can  do  that, 
sometimes,  with  people  who  are  very  sympa- 
thetic to  me.  I  fancy  it  would  be  rather  dan- 
gerous for  you  to  do  any  very  private  thinking 
in  my  presence.  I  sometimes  read,  too,  with- 
out reading  aloud.  I  think  I  have  read  some 
of  your  thoughts  lately,  without  your  suspect- 
ing it."      • 


52  THE  PRINCESS   SONIA 

She  looked  at  Martha,  over  her  cup  of  bouil- 
lon, and  smiled.  Martha  felt  herself  blushing, 
as  she  wondered  if  that  persistent  and  domi- 
nating thought  about  her  brother,  which  had 
been  so  often  in  her  mind  of  late,  could  have 
been  perceived  by  this  wonderful  being.  It 
frightened  her  so  that  she  quickly  changed  the 
subject,  and  the  remainder  of  the  meal  passed 
in  less  personal  talk. 

When  they  were  seated  in  the  princess's 
coupe,  a  little  later,  driving  past  the  Arc  de 
Triomphe,  Martha  saw  her  companion  turn- 
ing her  head  to  look  at  it  with  lingering, 
earnest  eyes. 

"  I  always  look  at  the  Arc  whenever  I  can," 
she  said  ;  "  and  it  always  has  something  to  say 
to  me.  Its  expression  of  strong  beauty  and 
repose  always  makes  me  feel  that  what  is,  is 
right.  If  I  am  happy,  it  makes  me  feel  that 
joy  is  both  good  and  permanent;  and  even 
when  in  times  of  unhappiness  it  makes  me  feel 
that  sadness  is  permanent,  it  somehow  seems 
to  tell  me  that  that  too  is  good.  Did  you  ever 
stand  quite  close  to  it  and  look  up?  " 

"No,"  said  Martha. 

"  We  must,  some  day,  together.  It  will  give 
you  a  new  sensation." 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  S3 

"  I  always  thought  that  it  appeared  better 
at  a  distance,"  said  Martha. 

"So  it  does,  in  a  way;  but  the  impression 
is  different.  I  love  it  from  the  Place  de  la  Con- 
corde, when  the  horse-chestnuts  are  in  bloom. 
Then  it  looks  like  a  magnificent  image  of  be- 
neficence, stretching  out  two  great  arms  to  take 
in  all  those  people,  in  carriages  and  on  foot, 
who  are  thronging  the  Champs-Elysees,  its 
body  vague  and  distant  in  the  clouds.  That 's 
a  sufficiently  fantastic  thought  for  you,  if  you 
like ;  but  it  is  one  that  has  comforted  me.  I 
love  Paris.  It  is  the  only  city  that  has  ever 
seemed  to  me  to  be  lovable.  Its  streets  are 
so  gay  and  clean,  and  the  faces  of  the  people 
one  meets,  along  here  at  least,  are  so  good- 
humored  and  intelligent.  I  love  this  mixture 
of  fashion  and  ruralness.  Look  at  the  swells 
and  the  peasants  driving  side  by  side !  Look 
at  those  white-aproned  men  drawing  hand- 
carts, that  mail-coach  coming  alongside,  those 
old  peasants  in  their  covered  wagons,  and  that 
superb  mounted  policeman  with  his  gorgeous 
trappings !  How  friendly  and  at  home  they 
all  seem !  Even  that  omnibus,  with  its  three 
white  Percherons  abreast,  looks  sociable  and 
friendly  by  the  side  of  the  steppeurs  of  the 


54  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

haute  ccole.  Oh,  it  's  all  very  human  and 
charming ;  or  is  it  that  you  humanize  me,  and 
make  me  feel  its  charm  more  than  I  have  done 
for  many  a  day  ?  " 

She  was  still  in  this  delightful  humor  when 
they  reached  the  Louvre,  and  made  their  way 
at  once  to  pay  their  homage  to  the  Venus 
of  Milo.  They  did  not  say  much  as  they 
looked  at  her,  moving  slowly  from  place 
to  place  to  get  the  different  points  of  view. 
Each  knew  what  the  other  felt,  and  words 
seemed  out  of  place.  Presently  the  princess 
said : 

"  I  have  a  fancy  to  try  an  experiment.  Let 's 
name  her  !  What  I  mean  is,  if  that  were  a  real 
woman,  what  would  you  think  the  name  best 
suited  to  her? " 

Martha  smiled  comprehendingly,  and  looked 
at  the  statue  with  a  gaze  of  deep  concentration. 
This  changed,  after  a  moment,  into  a  smile,  as 
she  said : 

"I  've  named  her.  It  's  so  absurd,  how- 
ever," she  went  on,  "to  give  such  a  name  as 
I  've  chosen  to  that  ancient  Greek  statue,  that 
I  'm  almost  ashamed  to  tell  it." 

"You  need  n't  be,"  said  the  princess,  smil- 
ing too  ;    "  for  I  've  got  a  name  about  which  I 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  55 

have  exactly  the  same  feeling.  Come  ;  I  '11  say 
mine  first.      It  's  Gloriana." 

"And  mine  is  Georgiana !  How  odd  that 
they  should  be  so  much  alike ! " 

/'Is  n't  it?  It  's  delightful,  though;  for  it 
shows  that  there  's  something  in  my  theory  of 
names,  and  that  this  statue  has  made  almost 
exactly  the  same  impression  on  us.  I  'm  eager 
now  to  name  the  Winged  Victory.  Come ; 
let  's  go  and  look  at  her." 

They  hurried  away  to  the  foot  of  the  wide 
staircase,  where,  looking  up,  they  saw  the 
magnificent  creature  with  her  great  wings 
spread. 

After  standing  before  her  in  silence  a  few 
moments,  the  princess  exclaimed  suddenly : 

"  Oh,  have  you  named  her  yet?  A  perfect 
name  for  her  has  come  to  me !  " 

"And  to  me,  too — perfect!"  said  Martha. 
"  How  many  syllables  has  yours?  " 

"  One." 

11  So  has  mine  !  "  said  the  other,  breathlessly. 
"  Now  let  's  count  three,  and  say  the  name." 

Simultaneously  they  said  :  "  One,  two,  three 
— Ruth  !  " 

Then  they  looked  at  each  other  with  an  ex- 
cited delight  that   the  passers-by  must  have 


56  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

thought  rather  amazing  even  for  two  artists 
looking  at  the  Victory. 

"  It  's  the  most  wonderful  thin^  I  ever  heard 
of,"  said  Martha.  "  Don't  you  feel  positively 
creepy  ?  " 

"  I  should  think  I  did  !  Little  cold  chills  are 
running  all  over  me.  Oh,  how  nice  it  is  that 
we  can  think  and  feel  together  in  this  way !  " 

Her  face,  as  she  spoke,  was  glowingly  beau- 
tiful ;  and  Martha  returned  her  gaze  with  a  look 
which  expressed  what  no  words  could  possibly 
have  done. 


One  morning  the  princess  did  not  come  to 
the  atelier ;  and  Martha,  after  working  along 
without  her  for  a  while,  thinking  that  her  friend 
might  have  been  delayed  and  hoping  that  she 
would  come  later,  found  her  mind  so  preoc- 
cupied by  the  absence  of  her  usual  compan- 
ion that  her  work  would  not  go  at  all,  and  at 
last  she  concluded  to  stop  trying,  and  to  go 
to  look  the  princess  up. 

She  called  a  cab,  and  drove  to  the  apart- 
ment in  the  Rue  Presbourg,  where  she  was 
now  well  known.  Even  the  old  concierge,  with 
her  shining  white  hair,  brilliant  black  eyes,  red 
cheeks,  and  bearded  upper  lip,  gave  her  a 
smile  of  welcome  as  she  passed  through  the 
court ;  and  the  princess's  servant  gave  her  an- 
other as  he  conducted  her  at  once  to  his  mis- 
tress's boudoir. 

Here  he  left  her.  Martha  tapped  on  the 
door,  and  waited.      Getting  no  answer,  she 

57 


58  THE   PRINCESS    SOMA 

turned  the  knob  and  entered,  intending  to 
knock  at  the  inner  door;  but  no  sooner  had 
she  shut  herself  into  the  room  than  she  be- 
came aware,  although  it  was  almost  wholly 
darkened,  that  it  was  not  unoccupied. 

A  stifled  sound  reached  her  ears,  and  she 
could  now  make  out  the  figure  of  the  princess, 
lying  on  the  lounge,  with  her  face  buried  in 
her  hands. 

The  girl's  heart  ached  with  pity,  and  she 
did  not  know  whether  to  yield  to  her  own 
impulse,  and  to  go  forward,  or  to  consult  the 
possible  preference  of  her  friend,  and  go  back. 

While  she  hesitated,  the  princess  took  her 
hands  from  her  face,  and  saw  her.  As  she 
did  so,  she  started  up,  touching  her  eyes  with 
her  handkerchief,  and  clearing  her  voice  to 
speak. 

"Is  it  you,  Martha?  Come  in,  child,"  she 
said.  "  I  have  a  headache  to-day,  and  in- 
tended to  see  no  one.  I  forgot,  however,  that 
I  had  given  orders  that  you  were  always  to  be 
the  exception.  I  should  not  have  let  you  see 
me  like  this  if  I  had  known  beforehand  ;  but 
now  that  you  have  looked  upon  your  poor 
friend  in  this  humiliated  state,  sit  down,  and 
never  mind." 


'"IS    IT    YOU,  MARTHA?' 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  59 

Martha  had  come  near,  and  now  took  the 
seat  beside  the  lounge,  her  face  tragic  with 
sympathy. 

"  I  am  so  sorry  you  are  ill,"  was  all  that  she 
could  say. 

"  I  am  not  ill,  really,"  said  the  princess.  She 
was  lying  back  upon  the  lounge,  and  fanning 
her  flushed  face  with  her  little  gossamer  hand- 
kerchief, which  Martha  could  see  was  limp 
with  tears.  "  My  head  does  ache  now,  but  I 
brought  it  on  by  this  wretched  crying.  It  's 
all  my  own  fault.  You  did  not  know  that  I 
was  such  a  weakling,  did  you  ?  "  and  she  made 
an  effort  to  smile. 

11  Oh,  I  am  so,  so  sorry ! "  said  Martha, 
helplessly. 

"You  needn't  be,  dear.  Never  be  sorry 
for  any  man  or  woman  who  is  equal  to  his  or 
her  life — and  I  am  equal  to  mine.  One  time 
out  of  ten  it  gets  the  better  of  me,  but  the 
nine  times  I  get  the  better  of  it.  This  mood 
will  surely  pass.  Indeed,  it  is  passing  now. 
You  have  helped  me  already.  It  has  been 
very  long  indeed  since  I  have  found  or  wanted 
human  help,  and  it  takes  me  by  surprise." 

Martha  saw  that  she  was  preparing  to  lead 
the  talk  away  from  her  recent  tears  and  their 


60  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

cause,  and  she  passionately  wished  that  her 
friend  should  feel  that  she  longed  to  enter  into 
her  sorrow  with  her,  if  it  could  be  allowed 
her ;   so  she  said  impulsively  : 

"  I  don't  suppose  you  feel  like  telling  me 
your  trouble  ;   but  oh,  I  wish  you  could  !  " 

"I  do  feel  like  it,  you  darling  child  !  I  could 
talk  to  you  about  it  better  than  to  any  one  on 
earth  ;  but  there  are  some  things  one  cannot 
speak  of  even  to  one's  own  heart.  That  is  the 
trouble  now.  If  I  were  to  let  myself  indulge 
freely  in  imaginings  and  regrets,  I  should  sat- 
isfy the  want  of  the  moment,  but  it  would  undo 
me  utterly.  My  great  temptation  is  regret, 
and  I  must  be  strong  enough  not  to  regret." 

"  Oh,  how  sad  life  is!"  cried  Martha.  "I 
have  always  thought  that  you  at  least  ought 
to  be  happy.  I  gave  you  the  name  of  '  The 
Happy  Princess,  '  out  of  Tennyson.  It  has 
seemed  to  me  from  the  first  that  you  were  a 
creature  who  had  it  in  you  to  command  happi- 
ness." 

"  Ah,  dear  child,  if  you  could  only  know 
how  helpless  I  am  there!  The  best  thing  that 
is  in  me  is  the  power  to  command  courage. 
That  I  can,  and  for  the  most  part  do.  While 
that  is  so,  I  shall  not  complain." 


/,  = 


THE    PRINCESS    SONIA  61 

"Then  you  are  really  unhappy?  Oh!" 
said  Martha,  drawing  herself  up  with  an  im- 
pulsive movement. 

"  I  know  what  that  fervent  exclamation 
means  as  well  as  if  you  had  put  it  into  words," 
said  the  princess.  "  You  are  wishing  that 
there  were  some  way  in  which,  by  sacrificing 
yourself,  you  could  purchase  happiness  for 
me." 

Martha,  startled  at  the  correctness  of  this 
guess,  could  say  nothing  in  denial. 

"  I  knew  it,"  said  the  princess,  reading  her 
face.  "  I  have  not  the  faintest  doubt  that  you 
would  do  it;  and — now  I  am  going  to  knock 
over  some  of  your  idealizing  of  me — there 
have  been  moments  in  my  life  when  my 
greed  for  happiness  has  consumed  me  so  that 
I  believe  I  would  have  been  willing  to  take 
it,  and  to  let  another  pay  the  price.  That  's 
a  base  thing  for  a  woman  to  say  of  herself, 
but  so  true  it  is  that  I  thank  God  I  was  never 
tempted  when  those  moods  were  on  me. 
Something  not  wholly  different  from  that  pant- 
ing after  an  impossible  joy  was  upon  me  this 
morning.  Shall  I  never  get  the  better  of  it 
utterly?  Can  one  overcome  it?  Did  you 
never  have  it,   Martha?      To  me  joy  is  im- 


62  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

possible,  but  it  is  not  so  to  you.  Don't  you 
ever  long-  for  it?  I  will  speak  to  you  quite 
openly,  Martha,  and  tell  you  this  —  when  I 
say  joy,  I  mean  love.  Is  there  a  woman's 
heart  that  does  not  long  for  that?  Be  as 
honest  with  me  as  I  have  been  with  you,  and 
tell  me." 

"I  will  try,"  said  Martha.  "  I  will  do  my 
best  to  be  perfectly  truthful.  I  do  long  for 
happiness;  but — this  may  seem  strange  to 
you,  and  you  may  even  think  that  I  am  pre- 
tending to  be  better  or  more  unselfish  than 
others — " 

"That  I  never  will !  I  know  that  is  n't  so. 
Go  on." 

"  I  was  going  to  say  that  the  craving  of 
my  heart  seems  somehow  to  be  impersonal. 
I  want  happiness  intensely,  but  the  way  in 
which  I  want  it  is  to  see  the  beings  whom  I 
love  best  have  it.  Now  there  are  two  crea- 
tures in  the  world  whom  I  love  supremely — 
my  brother  and  you.  You  know  that  this  is 
so.  If  I  could  see  both  of  you  happy,  in  the 
manner  and  degree  that  I  want,  I  believe  that 
I  could  then  be  perfectly  happy,  too.  I  be- 
lieve all  the  needs  of  my  own  heart  could  be 
answered  in  that  way ;  and  indeed  I   almost 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  63 

think  that  my  greed  for  joy  is  as  great  as 
yours  at  times.  It  has  strained  my  heart  al- 
most to  bursting,  in  Harold's  case,  and  I  feel 
now  almost  the  same  about  you.  I  have  never 
spoken  of  this  to  any  one ;  indeed,  I  was 
ne^er  fully  aware  of  it,  I  think,  until  I  put  it 
into  words  now.  It  must  seem  quite  incredi- 
ble to  you." 

"  Not  in  the  least.  I  believe  it  utterly,  or 
rather  it  's  a  stronger  thing  than  belief  with 
me.  I  feel  that  it  is  true.  I  admire  you 
for  it,  and  all  the  more  because  it  is  so 
different  from  me.  I  want  happiness  and 
love  for  myself —  every  ounce  of  flesh,  every 
drop  of  blood  in  me  longs  for  it  as  well 
as  every  aspiration  of  my  soul.  It  is  self 
that  I  am  thinking  of  when  I  get  like  this 
— my  own  power  to  enjoy,  and  also  —  oh, 
God  knows  that  this  is  true !  —  and  also  the 
power  to  give  joy  to  another.  Martha,  I  will 
tell  you  something,"  she  said,  with  a  sudden 
change  of  tone,  dropping  her  voice,  and  lean- 
ing forward  to  take  both  of  Martha's  hands  in 
hers  as  she  spoke,  with  her  eyes  fixed  intently 
on  the  girl's.  "  I  have  known  this  joy.  I  have 
loved  supremely,  and  been  loved.  You  have 
never  tasted  that  cup  of  rapture  as  I  have ; 


64  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

but  then  you  have  never  known,  as  I  have, 
the  anguish  of  that  renunciation.  Which  of 
us  is  the  fortunate  one?  If  you  knew  how  I 
suffer  you  would  probably  say  that  it  is  you  ; 
but  if,  on  the  other  hand,  you  knew  what  ec- 
stasy I  have  had,  I  think  that  you  might  de- 
cide differently.  Oh,  if  God  would  give  me 
one  more  hour  of  it,  I  think  I  would  be  con- 
tent !  One  more  hour,  to  take  it  to  the  full, 
knowing  that  I  must,  after  that,  come  back  to 
what  I  suffer  now  !  I  think  those  sixty  joy- 
absorbing  minutes  would  make  up  to  me  for 
everything.      But  to  have  it  never  again  /  " 

She  broke  off,  and,  hiding  her  face  in  her 
hands,  turned  away,  and  lay  for  some  moments 
quite  silent  and  still.  She  was  not  crying  — 
Martha  could  see  that ;  and  when  she  pres- 
ently turned,  and  looked  at  the  young  girl, 
holding  out  both  her  hands  to  her,  although 
there  was  no  smile  on  her  face,  it  showed  that 
she  had  conquered  her  dark  mood,  and  was 
strong  again. 

It  was  a  very  gentle  sort  of  strength,  how- 
ever, that  was  not  too  self-sufficient  to  feel 
pleasure  in  the  words  and  looks  and  touches 
of  quiet  sympathy  which  Martha  gave  her 
now.      They  sat  there,  hand  in  hand,   for  a 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  65 

long  time;    and  presently  the  princess  said, 
with  her  own  beautiful  smile : 

1  You  have  done  me  a  world  of  good,  Mar- 
tha.   My  headache  is  gone,  and  also  its  cause. 
Sometimes,  do  you  know, —  I  'm  going  to  let 
you  see  just  how  weak  I  am,— sometimes  I 
succumb  for  days  to  a  mood  like  this.      No- 
body knows  that  tears  have  anything  to  do 
with  the  headaches  that  I  suffer  from — at  least 
nobody  but  Felicie,  and  she  gives  no  informa- 
tion.     My  aunt   loves    me  dearly,  but  is  no 
more  acquainted  with  the  real  me  than  if  I 
were  a  stranger;  and  yet  she  adores  me  — 
perhaps  for  that  reason.     I  tell  her  nothing, 
because  the  feelings  that  I  have  are  quite  out- 
side her  comprehension,  while  the  headaches 
are  quite  within  it.     She  recommends  various 
powders  and  pellets,  and  is  constantly  getting 
new  prescriptions  for  me.    She  says  my  head- 
aches   are   of  a  very   obstinate   type,    and   I 
agree  with  her.    To  show  you  how  completely 
you  Ve  cured  me,"  she  added,  rising  to   her 
feet,  with  an  entire  change  of  tone,    "  I    am 
going  to  work  this  afternoon.      You  will  stay 
and  take  your  lunch  with  me,  and  then  we  '11 
be  there  in  time  for  the  second  model's  pose." 
"I    can't   stay,"  said    Martha,    rising  too; 


66  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

"but  I  will  meet  you  there  promptly.  I  am 
keeping  my  cab  below,  so  that  I  may  be  back 
at  the  atelier  by  the  time  the  carriage  comes 
for  me.  You  know  how  very  quiet  I  am  keep- 
ing my  little  escapades  with  you." 

"  Oh,  to  be  sure ! "  exclaimed  the  other, 
smiling.  "  I  had  forgotten  the  necessity  of 
that  precaution.  "  What  would  '  mama  and 
the  girls'  say?  I  think  I  shall  write  them  an 
anonymous  letter,  saying  that  if  madame  had 
been  under  the  impression  that  her  eldest 
daughter  devoted  herself  wholly  to  the  pur- 
suit of  art  during  the  hours  of  her  absence 
from  home,  it  might  have  surprised  her  had 
she  seen  the  aforesaid  young  lady  this  morn- 
ing come  out  of  the  atelier,  call  a  cab,  give  a 
number,  go  to  a  distant  apartment  (where  she 
was  evidently  well  known  to  the  concierge, 
who  passed  her  on  to  a  servant  in  Russian 
livery,  who  as  evidently  knew  her  well),  enter, 
by  a  special  passage,  a  certain  room,  where 
she  remained  shut  in  for  a  longr  time,  emercf- 
ing  finally  in  great  haste  to  drive  rapidly  in 
the  cab,  which  she  had  kept  waiting,  back  to 
the  atelier  in  time  to  meet  her  own  carriage, 
and  come  innocently  home  to  join  the  family 
circle  at  lunch  !    Could  n't  I  make  out  a  case  ? 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  67 

And  what  would  the  mother  and  the  little  sis- 
ters say  ? " 

Martha,  too,  laughed  at  the  picture  ;  but  in 
spite  of  some  discomfiture  of  feeling  to  which 
it  gave  rise,  she  had  no  idea  of  changing  her 
tactics.  The  very  thought  of  her  mother's 
going  to  work  to  investigate  the  princess,  and 
ascertain  if  she  were  a  proper  friend  for  her 
daughter,  smote  the  girl  to  the  heart,  and  she 
resolved  to  guard  her  secret  more  carefully 
than  ever.  She  determined  that  she  would 
ease  her  conscience  for  the  deception  by  con- 
fessing everything  to  her  brother  when  he 
came.     This  would  make  it  all  right. 

As  Martha  drove  back  to  the  atelier,  after 
an  affectionate  au  revoir  to  the  princess,  she 
was  conscious  that  something  was  rankling  in 
her  mind.  When  she  came  to  search  for  the 
ground  of  this  feeling,  she  found  it  to  exist  in 
the  confession  of  love  which  the  princess  had 
made.  This  knowledge  caused  Martha  to  re- 
alize that  she  had  not  even  yet  succeeded  in 
putting  from  her  the  imaginings  by  which  she 
had  connected  her  brother  and  her  friend. 
Before  knowing  the  princess  she  had  always 
cherished  the  belief  that  her  brother  would 
sink  below  her  ideal  of  him  if  he  ever  loved 


68  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

a  second  time.  Lately,  however,  she  had 
imagined  the  possibility  of  his  telling-  her, 
after  knowing  the  princess,  that  the  old  love 
was  not  the  perfect  one  he  had  imagined  it ; 
and  she  could  fancy  herself  forgiving  him  for 
loving  a  second  time,  with  the  princess  as  his 
apology.  It  had  even  seemed  to  her  lately  so 
monstrously  wrong  and  cruel  that  Harold's 
life  should  be  wantonly  wrecked  that  she  was 
now  prepared  to  accept  a  good  deal  more 
than  would  once  have  seemed  possible,  in 
order  to  see  it  mended. 

Martha,  for  all  her  demure  appearance,  had 
something  that  was  more  or  less  savage  and 
lawless  in  her  nature,  especially  where  Harold 
was  concerned ;  and  the  same  feeling,  in  a 
lesser  degree,  dominated  her  in  regard  to  the 
princess.  She  had  long  ago  admitted  to  her- 
self the  fact  that  Harold  had  missed  his  chance 
of  happiness  in  love  ;  but  it  was  as  painful  as 
it  was  unexpected  to  her  to  find  that  the  prin- 
cess too  had  loved  before.  She  had  known 
that  she  had  been  married,  but  with  very  little 
difficulty  she  had  constructed  for  herself  a 
theory  of  that  marriage  in  which  the  princess 
had  played  the  part  of  an  innocent  victim  to 
circumstance.     For  instance,  she  mi^ht  have 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  69 

been  married  by  her  parents  in  early  youth 
to  a  man  perhaps  far  older  than  herself,  whom 
she  had  never  loved,  and  for  whose  death  she 
could  not  have  grieved  much. 

It  was  a  surprise  to  Martha  now  to  find 
how  entirely  she  had  let  this  utterly  un- 
founded idea  take  possession  of  her.  The 
words  of  the  princess  this  morning  had  shat- 
tered it  to  atoms,  and  in  spite  of  herself  she 
felt  strangely  heavy-hearted. 


VI 


After  the  morning  on  which  Martha  had 
been  by  accident  a  witness  of  the  princess's 
self-betrayal,  there  seemed  nothing  lack- 
ing to  the  complete  understanding  of  the 
two  friends,  and  their  intimacy  was  now 
stronger  and  closer  than  ever.  It  was  not 
practicable  for  Martha  to  visit  the  princess 
very  often,  as  she  was  compelled  to  take  the 
time  for  these  visits  out  of  her  atelier  hours, 
and  both  women  were  too  earnest  in  their 
work  not  to  begrudge  this.  Lately  they  had 
fallen  into  the  custom  of  the  generality  of  the 
students,  and  went  for  their  midday  meal  to 
the  cremerie  in  the  neighborhood,  after  they 
had  visited  first  the  butchers  shop,  and  se- 
lected their  own  mutton-chop  or  bit  of  beef- 
steak ;  then  they  had  it  cooked  according  to 
their  directions.  This,  with  fresh  rolls  and 
baked  apples  and  milk,  made  an  excellent 
meal,  sometimes  augmented  by  potato  salad. 

7o 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  71 

Martha  had  been  initiated  into  these  myste- 
ries by  an  American  girl  whose  acquaintance 
she  had  made  through  the  latter's  having  once 
offered  to  help  her  on  with  her  "josie,"  a  word 
which  had  established  an  easy  footing  be- 
tween them  at  once. 

Martha  never  exchanged  more  than  a  pass- 
ing remark  with  the  other  students,  partly  be- 
cause she  had,  in  the  beginning,  built  a  sort 
of  barrier  around  her  by  her  shyness,  and,  re- 
cently, because  she  felt  that  her  intimacy  with 
the  princess,  who  knew  none  of  the  others, 
set  her  more  than  ever  apart. 

One  morning  Martha  came  to  the  atelier 
rather  late,  and  showed,  moreover,  a  certain 
excitement  in  her  movements  and  expression 
which  she  accounted  for  at  lunch-time  by  tell- 
ing the  princess  that  her  sister's  wedding  had 
been  hurried  up,  and  was  to  take  place  almost 
immediately. 

There  were  several  good  reasons  for  this ; 
one  being  that  it  suited  much  better  the  plans 
of  the  bridegroom  elect,  and  another  that  Mrs. 
Keene,  being  in  rather  delicate  health,  had 
been  urged  by  her  physicians  to  leave  Paris. 
So,  as  soon  as  the  wedding  was  over,  she  was 
to  go  south  with  the  younger  girls  and  their 


72  THE  PRINCESS    SONIA 

governess ;  and  Martha,  who  rebelled  against 
being  taken  from  her  beloved  painting,  had  a 
beautiful  plan  of  getting  her  brother  to  stay 
awhile  in  Paris  with  her  in  their  mother's 
apartment.  This  she  confided  to  the  prin- 
cess with  breathless  delight,  saying  that  she 
had  written  to  Harold  about  it,  and  told  him 
to  cable  her  if  he  were  willing.  Her  friend 
could  see  that,  with  her  usual  license  of  im- 
agination, Martha  had  been  making  all  sorts 
of  plans  in  connection  with  this  scheme,  and 
she  more  than  suspected  that  some  of  these 
concerned  herself. 

"My  dear  Martha,"  she  said,  with  a  pene- 
trating look  into  her  friend's  eager  eyes, 
"give  it  up  at  once,  on  the  spot,  if  you  have 
been  making  any  plans  to  introduce  your 
brother  to  me  !  " 

"Oh,  why?"  said  Martha,  in  tones  of  the 
keenest  regret. 

"  Because,  my  dear,  it  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. If  you  knew  how  sick  to  death  I  am  of 
men,  you  would  not  ask  it.  Please,  if  you  love 
me,  don't  speak  of  it  again." 

This,  of  course,  was  final,  and  Martha  was 
compelled  to  bear  her  disappointment  with 
what  patience  she  could  summon.     She  got  a 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  73 

promise  from  the  princess,  however,  that  she 
would  come  to  the  wedding,  which  was  to 
take  place  in  the  American  church.  At  least 
this  would  give  her  the  satisfaction  of  feeling 
in  the  future  that  her  friend  had  seen  her 
brother,  and  she  hoped  she  might  contrive  in 
some  way  that  the  latter  should  see  the  prin- 
cess, since  it  was  now  decreed  that  the  inter- 
course could  go  no  further. 

Great  as  Martha's  disappointment  was,  she 
forced  herself  to  recognize  the  fact  that, 
as  things  were,  it  might  be  all  for  the  best 
that  these  two  should  not  meet.  She  could 
imagine  but  one  result  of  that  meeting,  and 
that,  under  existing  circumstances,  might  be 
disastrous  to  both.  Neither  of  them  had  fully 
confided  in  her,  but  both  of  them  had  told  her 
plainly  that  a  second  love  was  the  thing  which 
they  most  strongly  repudiated.  In  Harold's 
case,  she  knew  that  this  feeling  was  one  that 
his  conscience,  no  less  than  his  heart,  or- 
dained ;  and  in  the  case  of  the  princess,  she 
somehow  felt  that  it  was  the  same. 

The  princess,  for  some  reason,  did  not  tell 
Martha  what  a  notable  exception  to  her  rule 
she  made  in  going  to  this  wedding.  The  fact 
was,  she  had  never  been  to  any  wedding  since 


74  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

her  own ;  and  it  may  have  been  that  fact 
which  accounted  for  the  state  of  intense  ex- 
citement which  she  was  in  as  she  drove  alone 
in  her  carriage  through  the  streets  of  Paris  to 
the  church  in  the  Avenue  de  l'Alma. 

As  she  got  out,  and  instructed  her  coach- 
man where  to  wait,  this  inward  excitement 
showed  in  every  rapid  movement  and  word. 
Afterward,  when  she  entered  the  church,  and 
walked,  with  a  definiteness  of  manner  which 
would  seem  to  have  indicated  a  prearranged 
plan,  straight  down  the  left-hand  aisle  to  the 
choir-stalls,  her  face  was  flushed  and  her  eyes 
were  brilliant.  It  was  early,  and  few  people 
had  come  as  yet. 

The  princess  wore  a  long,  dark  cloak,  which 
concealed  her  figure,  and  on  her  large  hat, 
which  hid  the  outline  of  her  head,  a  rather 
thick  Russian  veil  was  fastened,  so  that  her 
features  were  scarcely  distinguishable. 

There  was  a  shaded  corner  near  the  organ, 
behind  the  chorister-stalls,  that  was  quite 
screened  from  the  congregation,  and  so  situ- 
ated as  to  be  almost  out  of  view  from  the 
chancel  also,  if  one  chose  to  protect  one's  self 
behind  the  great  pillar  that  stood  there.  The 
day  was  dark  and  cloudy,  but  the  chancel  was 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  75 

brilliant  with  lighted  candles.  The  princess 
with  firm  confidence  walked  to  this  place,  and 
took  her  seat.  She  did  not  seem  to  care 
whether  the  church  was  filling  up  or  not.  She 
scarcely  noticed  when  some  people  came  and 
took  the  seats  near  her.  In  these  moments 
she  was  so  lost  in  thoughts  and  reminiscences 
that  the  furious  beating  of  her  heart  almost 
suffocated  her. 

When,  from  just  behind  her,  a  great  organ- 
note  swelled  forth,  and  filled  the  church  with 
tremulous  vibrations,  the  princess  gave  a  little 
fluttered  start.  No  one  was  near  enough  to 
observe  this,  however,  or  to  see  the  crouching 
back  into  her  seat  which  followed  it.  The 
music  seemed  to  heighten  her  emotion,  and 
she  trembled  visibly.  She  quite  lost  count  of 
time,  and  did  not  know  how  long  it  was  before 
she  saw  a  clergyman  enter  the  chancel  and 
stand  there,  waiting.  Then,  as  two  officers 
in  rich  uniforms  came  and  took  their  places  in 
front  of  him,  the  sonorous  chords  of  the  old 
familiar  Mendelssohn  march  swelled  from  the 
organ,  and  the  heart  within  her  seemed  to 
stop  and  sink.  It  was  the  sound  and  influence 
to  which,  in  perfect  joy,  she  had  walked  to 
her  own  wedding. 


76  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

She  knew  that  the  bridal  procession  was 
coming  up  the  aisle,  but  she  did  not  turn  her 
head  to  get  a  view  into  the  church.  She  felt 
the  people  about  her  rise  to  their  feet,  but  she 
sat  still.  Her  trembling  limbs  would  not  have 
held  her  up ;  but  she  did  not  even  know  that 
she  was  trembling.  She  knew  only  that  she 
was  waiting — that  all  her  heart  and  all  her 
soul  were  wrapped  in  a  bewildering  suspense 
until  the  coining  of  what  was  very  near  her 
now.  They  passed  close  to  her,  the  girls  in 
their  white  dresses,  and  the  officers  in  their 
glittering  uniforms,  and  stood  in  divided  ranks, 
leaving  the  space  between  them  clear. 

Into  this  space,  directly  in  front  of  the 
clergyman,  there  now  advanced  a  woman  cov- 
ered with  a  cloud  of  gauzy  tulle.  She  leaned 
upon  the  arm  of  the  only  man  in  the  party 
who  was  not  in  uniform. 

It  was  on  this  figure  that  the  princess  fast- 
ened her  eyes,  never  once  removing  them 
until  the  short  ceremony  had  come  to  an  end. 
The  bride  was  a  shapeless  blur.  The  brides- 
maids were  a  billowy  cloud.  The  officers  were 
mere  dazzles  of  color  and  gold  lace.  One 
object  there  was  that  cut  its  way  into  her  con- 
sciousness with  acute  distinctness  —  the  dark- 


THE    MAN    WHO    STOOD    WAITING   TO    GIVE    THE    BRIDE.' 


THE    PRINCESS    SONIA  77 

clad,  clearly  outlined  figure  and  pale  profile  of 
the  man  who  stood  waiting  to  give  the  bride. 

When  the  music  ceased,  and  the  minister 
told  the  congregation  that  they  were  assem- 
bled to  join  together  this  man  and  this  woman 
in  holy  matrimony,  it  was  another  man  and 
woman  that  she  thought  of;  and  so  through 
all  the  solemn  charge  and  searching  question- 
ing that  followed. 

When  the  minister  asked,  "Who  giveth 
this  woman  to  be  married  ?  "  and  the  man 
that  she  had  been  watching  gave  up  his  com- 
panion with  a  slight  inclination  of  the  head, 
and  moved  aside,  the  gaze  of  the  princess  still 
followed  and  rested  on  him.  When,  a  moment 
later,  a  strange  foreign  voice  said  painstak- 
ingly, "  I,  Victor,  take  thee,  Alice,  to  my  wed- 
ded wife,"  what  she  heard,  in  natural  and  fam- 
iliar English  utterance  was  this  :  "  I,  Harold, 
take  thee,  Sophia,  to  my  wedded  wife,  to  have 
and  to  hold,  from  this  day  forward,  for  better, 
for  worse,  for  richer,  for  poorer,  in  sickness 
and  in  health,  to  love  and  to  cherish,  till  death 
us  do  part,  according  to  God's  holy  ordinance, 
and  thereto  I  plight  thee  my  troth."  And  it 
was  her  own  voice  which  made  answer :  "  I, 
Sophia,  take  thee,  Harold." 


78  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

A  hard  clutch  was  on  her  heart.  He  was 
there — the  Harold  who  had  made  that  vow 
to  her  ;  and  she,  Sophia,  was  here,  in  life,  not 
death!  "Till  death  us  do  part,"  they  had 
both  of  them  sworn,  and  they  had  let  life  part 
them  !  The  terrible  wrong  of  it  all  rushed 
over  her.  The  reasons  which  had  made  that 
parting  seem  to  her  right  before  now  vanished 
into  air.  She  felt  that  crime  alone  could  ever 
link  one  of  them  to  another.  She  felt  that 
this  separation  between  them  was  in  itself  a 
crime,  and  she  who  had  done  it  the  chief  of 
criminals. 

All  this  she  felt  with  terrifying  force,  but  a 
feeling  stronger  than  even  any  of  these  had 
taken  possession  of  her — a  want  and  longing 
had  awakened  in  her  heart  which  strained  it 
almost  intolerably.  She  looked  at  the  bride's 
brother,  standing  there  intensely  still,  in  an 
attitude  of  complete  repose,  and  a  feeling  that 
he  was  hers,  and  hers  alone  took  possession 
of  her.  She  grew  reckless  of  appearances, 
and  stood  up  in  her  place,  with  her  face  turned 
full  toward  him.  She  heard  the  clergyman's 
stern  behest  that  man  put  not  asunder  those 
whom  God  hath  joined,  and  she  heard  him 
pronounce  that  they  were  man  and  wife,  in 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  79 

the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Her  heart  said  a  sol- 
emn amen. 

Imagination  lingered  on  these  thrilling 
thoughts  while  the  blessing  was  pronounced 
and  the  service  ended  ;  and  then  the  little  pro- 
cession, the  bride  and  bridegroom  at  its  head, 
and  the  figure  that  she  watched  at  his  mother's 
side  behind  them,  passed  her  and  went  down 
the  aisle,  while  the  familiar  music  was  playing, 
to  which  she  had  walked  from  the  altar  a 
blissfully  happy  wife — and  she  was  left  alone  ! 

The  organist  quickly  closed  the  organ,  and 
hurried  away.  The  people  near  her  moved 
off  too;  and  still  she  sat  there  motionless, 
feeling  herself  deserted  and  most  miserable. 
A  boy,  putting  out  the  candles,  roused  her  to 
consciousness,  and  somehow  she  got  out  of 
the  place. 


VII 


Mrs.  Keene's  apartment  on  the  Place  de 
la  Madeleine  was  a  scene  of  joyful  commo- 
tion and  confusion.  The  small  breakfast 
which  followed  the  wedding  was  an  informal 
affair ;  and  though  it  was  supposed  that 
only  the  nearest  personal  friends  were  pres- 
ent, the  rooms  were  cheerfully  crowded,  and 
the  uniforms  made  a  show  and  glitter.  The 
charming  girls  who  were  permitted  to  be  their 
sister's  bridesmaids  were  the  object  of  much 
notice  and  attention  ;  and  when  the  company 
had  risen  from  the  table,  the  eldest  sister,  who 
was  so  much  the  least  pretty  and  vivacious, 
was  scarcely  missed  from  the  room.  A  few 
people  inquired  for  the  bride's  brother,  who  had 
also  disappeared  ;  but  as  he  was  a  stranger 
to  every  one,  the  fact  of  his  absence  was  little 
noticed. 

Martha,  when  she  went  to  look  for  Harold, 
found  him  in  his  own  room,  smoking. 

80 


THE    PRINCESS    SONIA  81 

"  I  knew  it  was  you,"  he  said,  as  she  came 
in.  closing  the  door  behind  her.  "  I  thought 
you  would  come  to  look  me  up ;  but  why  did 
you  ?  I  'm  poor  company  for  anybody  to-day. 
Well,"  he  added,  with  a  short,  deep  breath, 
"  thank  the  Lord,  that  's  over  !  When  you  get 
married,  Martha,  I  want  you  to  elope.  I  've 
no  business  at  a  wedding.  I  feel  that  I  have 
cast  an  evil  eye  on  Alice  and  Victor." 

"  Oh,  Harold,  I  was  thinking  of  you  more 
than  of  them  all  the  time,"  said  Martha,  ear- 
nestly. "  It  did  seem  absolute  cruelty  to  have 
required  it  of  you.      How  could  mama  !  " 

Concentrated  as  her  tone  and  manner  were, 
she  was  doubtful  whether  they  even  pene- 
trated the  consciousness  of  her  companion, 
who,  with  his  chair  tipped  backward,  his 
frock-coat  thrown  open,  with  a  ruthless  dis- 
regard of  the  smart  gardenia  which  orna- 
mented its  lapel,  and  his  hands  thrust  deep 
into  his  trousers  pockets,  was  smoking  vig- 
orously, and  looking  away  from  her  out  of 
the  window. 

Martha  had  come  here  in  the  ardent  hope 
of  giving  comfort,  and  she  felt  a  little  hurt. 
She  smothered  the  feeling  back  into  her  heart, 
however,  as  she  said : 


82  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

"  I  knew  it  was  anguish  to  you,  standing 
there  and  going  through  that  ceremony." 

He  turned,  and  looked  at  her. 

"  Well,  rather  !  "  he  said,  with  a  short  laugh, 
still  keeping  the  cigar  in  his  mouth,  and  talk- 
ing with  his  teeth  clenched  upon  it.  Then  he 
turned  his  face  toward  the  window  again  ;  but 
his  glance  was  so  va<nie  that  Martha  felt  that 
he  saw  some  picture  in  his  mind,  rather  than 
the  scene  below.  "  The  service  was  the  same," 
he  said,  clasping  his  hands  behind  his  head, 
and  narrowing  his  eyes  as  if  to  get  the  per- 
spective. "The  music  was  the  same — and 
those  roses  !  And  that  was  not  all.  Vivid  as 
she  always  is  to  me  in  every  other  respect,  I 
have  not  always  been  able  to  hold  on  to  her 
voice ;  but  to-day  I  heard  it  perfectly,  saying, 
1 1,  Sophia,  take  thee,  Harold,'  and  all  the 
rest." 

He  got  up  suddenly,  threw  his  cigar  into 
the  grate,  and  walked  across  the  room. 

"  Oh,  poor  Harold  !  "  Martha  said,  her  voice 
thick  with  tears. 

The  effect  of  her  words  was  instantaneous. 
He  turned  suddenly,  and  showed  in  both  face 
and  figure  a  swiftly  summoned  and  effectual 
calm. 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  83 

"  My  dear  girl,"  he  said  quickly,  "  you  don't 
suppose  I  'm  posing  for  an  injured  husband,  I 
hope  ?  I  have  suffered,  of  course  ;  but  with  a 
man  certain  kinds  of  suffering  sret  to  be  a 
business.  To  speak  of  it  seems  like  talking 
shop.  It  's  detestable  to  be  talking  it  to  you 
now ;  but  the  truth  is,  this  wedding  affair  has 
nearly  knocked  me  out.  I  could  have  gone 
on  keeping  up  the  bluff,  of  course,  and  talked 
the  usual  bosh  with  the  wedding-guests  in 
yonder ;  but  I  found  I  had  a  contract  with 
myself  that  had  to  be  seen  to.  It  has  cost  me 
something  to  smooth  out  and  harden  down 
my  thoughts  and  feelings  about  my  own  life ; 
but  I  had  got  the  thing  done.  This  wedding 
business,  however,  upheaved  it  all.  When  I 
found  that  I  was  actually  sinking  into  the 
mushy  swamp  of  self-pity,  I  thought  it  was 
about  time  to  come  away,  and  steady  up  my 
nerve  a  bit.  I  'm  all  right  now,  however,  and 
I  see  clear  again.  The  thing  's  over,  and  no 
harm  is  done." 

Martha's  eyes  followed  him  wistfully  as  he 
turned  to  the  dressing-table,  picked  up  a 
brush,  and  smoothed  the  swart  surface  of  his 
thick,  dark  hair,  brushed  some  specks  of  dust 
from  his  coat,  and  carefully  straightened  the 
injured  flower. 


84  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

"Shall  we  go  back?"  he  said.  "We  may 
be  missed." 

"  Don't  go  quite  yet.  No  one  will  think 
about  us,"  she  said ;  and  then  she  added 
doubtfully  :  "  May  I  talk  to  you  a  little,  Har- 
old ?  " 

"  Certainly,  my  dear.  Talk  all  you  want," 
he  answered,  sitting  down  ;  "  only  there  's  no- 
thing to  say." 

"  Where  is  she?  I  've  so  often  longed  to 
now. 

"  I  have  n't  the  least  idea.  She  asked  me 
not  to  follow  her  movements,  and  I  never 
have." 

"Then  you  do  not  even  know  whether  she 
is  living  or  dead?  " 

"  Yes  ;  I  know  that  much.  She  is  not  dead. 
I  feel  her  in  the  world.  If  she  went  out  of  it, 
I  believe  I  should  know  it.  Besides,  I  would 
have  been  informed  of  that.  She  spoke  of  it, 
and  said  so." 

There  was  a  moment's  pause,  which  Mar- 
tha broke. 

"  Will  you  tell  me  this,"  she  said,  "whether 
you  are  as  hopeless  about  it  all  as  you  were 
when  I  last  spoke  to  you  of  it  ?  " 

"  Exactly  as  hopeless.    When  a  thing  is  ab- 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  85 

solute,  my  dear,  it  does  n't  have  degrees.  I 
have  never  been  anything  else  than  hopeless 
since  the  hour  of  my  last  interview  with  her. 
She  told  me  then,"  he  said,  with  a  sort  of  cold 
conciseness,  "  that  her  first  wish  was  to  set  me 
absolutely  free.  She  said  she  wanted  me  to 
marry  again.  She  said  that  just  as  soon  as 
we  had  lived  apart  the  time  required  by  law 
for  a  divorce,  she  wanted  me  to  eet  it.  She 
said  she  was  sorry  there  was  no  way  to  get  it 
sooner.  She  said,  also,  that  she  would  take 
back  her  maiden  name." 

He  got  up,  thrust  his  hands  into  his  pock- 
ets, and,  walking  over  to  the  window,  stood 
there  for  a  moment.  Then  he  turned  sud- 
denly, and  came  and  stood  in  front  of  Martha, 
looking  her  directly  in  the  eyes.  She  saw  by 
that  look  that  he  was  calm  and  steady,  and 
so  she  ventured  to  question  him  a  little  fur- 
ther. 

"  Do  you  know  whom  she  lives  with  ?  "  she 
asked. 

"  With  an  aunt,  whose  life,  as  she  told  me, 
is  utterly  out  of  the  world  that  we  knew  to- 
gether. She  said  that,  on  this  account,  there 
was  good  reason  to  hope  that  we  would  never 
meet  again." 


86  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

Martha,  who  felt  that  this  subject  might 
not  be  spoken  of  between  them  again,  con- 
tinued to  question  him  as  he  stood  and  looked 
down  at  her  with  a  perfect  consciousness  of 
self-possession. 

"  Was  she  so  beautiful  ?  "  she  asked. 

"Yes,"  he  said. 

"  And  are  you  still  unchanged  in  giving  her 
the  supreme  place  that  you  did  give  her  from 
the  moment  you  first  saw  her  ?  " 

"Yes,"  he  said  again. 

"  Oh,  Harold,"  exclaimed  the  crirl,  "I  some- 
times  think  it  might  have  turned  out  differ- 
ently if  the  marriage  had  not  been  so  rash 
and  sudden." 

He  took  a  seat  near  her,  and  continued  to 
look  at  her  as  he  said : 

"  It  could  have  made  no  difference  to  me. 
You  don't  fully  understand  it,  Martha.  It  is 
impossible  that  you  should.  I  knew,  the  day 
I  met  her,  that  I  had  been  set  apart  and  saved 
for  her.  I  know  it  now.  It  was  the  kind  of 
gravitation  that  comes  once  in  a  life." 

"  Then  you  do  not  regret  it?  " 

11  For  myself,  not  in  the  least.  She  was  my 
wife  for  a  month.  What  I  have  gone  through 
since  is  a  small  price  to  pay  for  that.      But 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  87 

when  I  think  of  what  it  has  cost  her  —  that 
most  delicate  of  women  —  to  face  the  odium 
of  it — that  superb  woman's  life  shadowed  by 
the  vulgarity  of  a  suddenly  ruptured  marriage; 
and  —  deeper  than  that !  —  to  have  her  best 
life  maimed  forever  —  God  !  I  curse  the  day 
that  I  was  born  !  " 

"  And  what  has  she  brought  on  you,  I  'd 
like  to  know?"  cried  Martha.  "It  was  she 
who  cast  you  off — not  you  her.  Ah,  Harold, 
if  she  had  been  the  woman  she  should  have 
been,  she  never  could  have  done  it !  " 

He  looked  at  her  with  some  impatience  in 
his  glance. 

"Whether  she  was  the  woman  she  should 
have  been  or  not  is  a  thing  that  neither  con- 
cerns nor  interests  me.  She  was  the  woman 
I  loved.     The  whole  thing-  is  in  that." 

"And  the  woman  you  still  love?  Is  that 
true,  Harold  ?  " 

"True  as  death,"  he  said;  "but  what  does 
it  all  matter  ?  Your  relentlessness  is  the 
friend's  natural  feeling.  It  shows  how  bootless 
it  is  to  give  account.  I  care  more  for  your 
opinion  than  any  other,  but  even  your  scorn 
does  not  signify  to  me  here.  It  misses  the 
point.    The  only  pride  that  is  involved  is  pride 


88  THE   PRINCESS   50NIA 

in  my  own  immutability.  Love  ought  always 
to  be  a  regeneration,"  he  went  on,  as  if  putting 
into  shape  the  thoughts  that  were  rising  out 
of  the  recent  chaos  in  his  mind.  "  It's  easy 
enough  to  keep  true  when  the  love,  the  joy, 
the  equal  give  and  take,  go  on  unbroken.  It 's 
when  a  man  actually  turns  and  walks  out  of 
heaven,  and  the  gates  shut  behind  him  for- 
ever, that  he  finds  out  the  stuff  that  's  in  him. 
Sometimes,  when  I  think  about  it,  I  try  to 
fancy  what  would  be  my  humiliation  if  I 
found   I  had  grown  to  love  her  less." 

Martha  was  silent  a  moment.  Then  she 
said,  as  if  urged  by  the  necessity  of  speaking 
out,  for  this  once,  all  that  she  had  so  long  kept 
back  : 

"  Suppose,  after  you  get  the  divorce,  you 
should  hear  that  she  was  married  ? " 

"  I  'm  braced  to  bear  that,  if  it  comes,"  he 
said.  "  I  know  it  is  possible,  but  I  don't  fear 
it.  I  may,  of  course,  be  wrong ;  but  I  don't 
believe,  with  what  has  been  between  us,  that 
she  could  ever  be  the  wife  of  another  man 
while  I  lived.  She  might  think  so.  She  might 
even  try  —  go  part  of  the  way;  but  I  never 
felt  more  secure  of  anything  than  that  she 
would  find  herself  unable  to  do  it." 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  89 

"  Then  do  you  think  that  she  possibly  still 
cares  for  you  ?  " 

"  No  ;  I  'm  not  a  fool.  She  made  that  point 
sufficiently  plain.  Did  n't  she  tell  me,  in  the 
downright,  simple  words,  that  she  did  not  love 
me  —  had  never  loved  me  —  had  found  out  it 
was  all  a  mistake  ?  I  believe  she  meant  it  ab- 
solutely. I  believe  it  was  true.  You  don't 
suppose,  if  I  doubted  it,  I  'd  have  given  her 
up  as  I  have  done  ? " 

"  Oh,  Harold,  what  was  it  all  about,  that 
quarrel  that  you  had  ?  Could  you  bear  to  tell 
me?" 

"There  's  nothing  to  tell.  We  thought  we 
were  perfectly  suited,  perfectly  sympathetic. 
Our  feelings  had  stood  every  test  but  mar- 
riage. When  it  came  to  that,  they  failed.  It 
was  a  case  of  non-adjustment  of  feelings  — 
different  points  of  view  —  different  natures, 
perhaps.  I  saw  facing  me  the  demand  that 
I  should  change  myself,  root  and  branch,  and 
become  a  different  creature  from  what  God 
had  made  me.  This  I  could  not  do.  I  migdit 
have  pretended  and  acted,  but  she  was  not 
the  woman  to  tolerate  the  wretched  puppet 
of  a  man  which  that  would  have  made  of  me. 
Her  changing  was  a  thing  I  never  thought  of. 


9o  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

I  was  never  mean  enough  to  think  that  a 
woman  was  bound  to  sacrifice  her  individu- 
ality in  marriage.  Why  should  a  wife  sur- 
render that  sacred  citadel  any  more  than  a 
husband  ?  How  odious  should  I  feel  myself, 
if  I  had  ever  taken  that  position  in  the  slight- 
est degree !  And  shams  were  out  of  the 
question  with  us.  Neither  of  us  could  have 
tolerated  anything  uncandid  —  anything  that 
smacked  of  a  tacit  convention." 

There  was  a  moment's  pause,  and  then 
Martha  broke  out  impulsively  : 

"  I  can't  help  thinking'  that  it  might  have 
been  prevented.  It  may  be  that  you  were  too 
proud.      Have  you  ever  thought  that  ?  " 

"  No,"  he  said,  with  a  certain  grimness.  "  I 
have  never  taken  that  view  of  the  case.  She 
made  it  so  entirely  plain  that  she  wanted 
to  be  rid  of  me  at  once  and  forever  —  that 
there  was  no  room  for  reflection  on  that  point. 
If  there  is  a  man  alive  who  could  have  held 
her  bound  after  her  words  to  me,  I  hope  I 
may  never  make  his  acquaintance." 

The  appearance  of  agitation  which  had 
marked  the  beginning  of  the  interview  was 
now  utterly  gone  from  Harold.  lie  spoke 
deliberately,  and  as  if  with  a  certain  satisfac- 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  91 

tion  in  the  sense  of  getting  his  thoughts  into 
form. 

Again  there  was  a  pause.  Then  Martha 
said,  speaking  very  low  : 

"  But,  Harold,  you  are  doing  without  love." 

"I  have  had  it,"  he  answered,  "  and  what 
has  been  is  mine,  to  keep  forever.  I  have  lost 
my  wife,  but  the  greatness,  the  exaltation,  of 
my  love  increases.  I  have  learned  that  love 
is  subjective  and  independent.  A  renunciation 
is  only  an  episode  in  it.  I  deserve  no  pity. 
No,  Martha;  never  fall  into  the  mistake  of 
pitying  me.  I  should  pity  you  from  my  heart 
if  I  thought  you  would  miss  what  I  have  had ; 
and  the  gods  may  be  lenient  to  as  sweet  a 
soul  as  yours.  You  may  have  the  joy,  some 
day,  without  the  renunciation." 

"I  don't  want  it!  I  wouldn't  have  it!" 
cried  the  girl,  vehemently.  "  No  one  will  ever 
love  me,  and  I  would  n't  have  them  to.  It 
would  break  my  heart.  It  makes  me  seem 
ridiculous  even  to  speak  of  it.  I  want  you  to 
have  love  and  joy.     That  is  all  I  ask." 

"  Well,  I  Ve  had  it.  Be  satisfied.  Of  the 
two  of  us, — except  that  you  have  hope,  which 
I  have  not, — you  are  the  one  to  be  pitied." 

"  Oh,  Harold,  dorit!     Unless  you  want  to 


92 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 


break  my  heart  outright,  don't  talk  to  me 
about  being  happy.  I  want  happiness  {ox  you: 
I  *ve  got  no  use  for  it." 

She  got  up  as  she  spoke,  and  moved  toward 
him.  Harold  stood  up,  too,  and  bent  to  kiss 
her.  Demonstrations  between  them  were  un- 
usual, and  it  was  a  very  Martha-like  instinct 
that  made  her  now  so  incline  her  head  as  to 
receive  his  caress  upon  her  hair. 

"We  will  go  back  to  the  others  now,"  said 
Harold.      "  Thank  you,  Martha." 

So  together  they  went  back  to  the  weddings 
party. 


M 


m:: 


I    KNEW    IT    WAS    ANGL'ISH    TO    YOU. 


VIII 

The  day  after  the  wedding,  when  the  bridal 
pair  had  left  Paris  by  one  train  and  the  bride's 
mother  and  younger  sisters  by  another,  when 
Harold  had  gone  off  to  attend  to  some  busi- 
ness which  formed  one  part  of  the  reason  of 
his  comine  to  Paris,  Martha,  having  now  full 
use  of  the  carriage,  ordered  it  to  wait  outside 
the  atelier  while  she  went  in  to  see  if  the 
princess  was  there.  It  confirmed  a  suspicion 
which  had  somehow  got  into  her  head  when 
she  found  that  her  friend  was  absent.  With 
scarcely  a  glance  at  the  model  and  the  busy 
students,  she  withdrew,  and,  reentering  her 
carriage,  ordered  her  coachman  to  drive  her 
to  the  Rue  Presbourg. 

Upon  going  at  once  to  her  friend's  private 
rooms,  she  found  her  lying  on  the  lounge  in 
semi-darkness,  as  she  had  seen  her  once  be- 
fore ;  but  now  there  were  no  tears,  nor  any 
trace  of  them. 


94  THE    PRINCESS    SOMA 

"  I  have  a  real  headache  this  time,"  she 
said,  as  she  stretched  out  her  hand,  with  a 
smile.  "  It 's  better  than  it  was,  though,  and 
I  am  glad  to  see  you." 

"  Were  you  at  the  wedding  ?  "  was  Martha's 
first  eager  question,  when  she  had  kissed  her 
friend  and  taken  the  seat  beside  her. 

"Yes,  I  was  there,"  said  the  other  promptly. 
"  How  charming  you  looked  in  your  brides- 
maid's dress,  and  how  handsome  your  Alice 
really  is  !  " 

She  wondered  what  Martha  would  think  if 
she  knew  the  truth  —  that  she  had  seen  Alice 
and  herself  scarcely  more  than  if  they  had  not 
been  present ! 

"  And  you  saw  Harold  ? "  was  the  next 
question. 

"  Yes ;  I  saw  your  paragon  of  paragons," 
was  the  answer,  spoken  in  light  and  well- 
guarded  tones. 

Martha's  face  fell.  Still,  she  was  too  ear- 
nest to  be  lightly  rebuffed,  so  she  went  on  : 

"  And  what  did  you  think  of  him?  Now, 
Sonia,  don't  tease  me !  You  know  how  im- 
portant it  is  to  me  —  what  you  think  of 
Harold.      Do  tell  me,  dear,  and  don't  laugh." 

In  response  to  this  earnest  appeal  the  prin- 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  95 

cess's  face  grew  grave.  She  did  not  look  at 
Martha,  however,  but  occupied  herself  with 
twisting  up  her  loosened  hair  as  she  answered: 

"  I  thought  him  handsome,  dear.  I  thought 
his  face  both  strong  and  clever.  I  could  un- 
derstand you  loving  him  so  much.  I  could 
see  nothing  in  his  face,  or  figure,  or  expres- 
sion, that  looked  in  the  least  degree  unworthy 
of  the  great  ideal  that  you  have  of  him. 
There!      Does  that  satisfy  you?" 

She  caught  Martha's  chin  between  her 
thumb  and  forefinger,  and  for  a  second  she 
met  her  gaze  full.  Then  she  got  up  hastily, 
and  walked  across  the  room. 

When  she  presently  came  back,  she  had  the 
air  of  a  person  thoroughly  on  guard,  and  con- 
scious of  her  ability  to  cope  with  circum- 
stances. She  did  not  return  to  the  lounge, 
but  sat  upright  on  a  stiff  sofa  which  admitted 
of  no  lounging.  Martha,  glowing  with  pleas- 
ure at  her  heroine's  praise  of  her  hero,  was 
determined  to  follow  up  her  advantage. 

"  Oh,  you  will  take  back  what  you  said, 
and  let  me  bring  him  to  see  you  —  won't  you, 
Sonia?"  she  said  ardently.  "We  are  going 
to  have  the  apartment  to  ourselves  for  weeks, 
Harold  and  I ;  and  we  three  could  have  such 


96  THE    PRINCESS   SOMA 

ideal  times  —  such  little  dinners  and  jaunts  to 
the  play!  As  things  arc  with  you  both,  I 
think  there  is  all  the  more  reason  for  you  to 
know  each  other.  You  could  be  such  friends! 
I  should  think  a  real  man  friend  would  be  such 
a  comfort  to  you.  You  seem  made  for  that 
sort  of  camaraderie,  as  well  as  for  love.  And 
what  a  comfort  the  friendship  of  such  a  woman 
as  you  would  be  to  Harold!  I  feel  myself  at 
times  so  inadequate  to  him,  and  I  have  the 
very  same  feeling,  sometimes,  with  you.  I 
will  confess  to  you,  Sonia,  that  I  did  have  a 
hope  once,  even  though  you  are  a  princess 
and  he  just  a  simple  American  gentleman, 
that  you  and  Harold  might  some  time,  after 
years,  come  to  be  something  to  each  other ; 
but  I  have  given  that  up.  I  see  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  either  of  you.  I  had  a  talk  with 
Harold  yesterday,  and  he  is  as  much  protected 
by  his  past  as  you  are  by  yours.  So  there 
could  be  no  danger  to  either  in  such  an  inter- 
course.      Oh,  Sonia,  wont  you  consent  to  it ?  " 

There  was  great  gravity  and  deliberation 
in  the  tones  of  the  princess  as  she  answered 
impressively : 

"  Now,  Martha,  listen  to  me.  I  want  you 
to  put  that  idea  out  of  your  head  at  once  and 


THE    PRINCESS    SONIA  97 

forever.  You  will  do  this,  I  am  sure,  when  I 
tell  you  how  it  distresses  me  and  embarrasses 
our  whole  intercourse.  You  are  quite  mis- 
taken in  supposing  that  I  have  either  a  need 
or  a  desire  for  the  friendship  of  any  man  alive. 
You  really  must  believe  me  when  I  tell  you 
that  I  am  sick  of  men.  One  reason  that  I 
have  so  entirely  given  up  society  is  that  they 
fret  me  so  with  their  offers  of  what  you  and 
they  call  friendship.  I  did  have  men  friends 
once,  and  I  know  what  they  amount  to.  While 
I  was  married,  my  —  I  mean  the  man  I  mar- 
ried— was  my  friend.  Since  I  lost  him  I  have 
never  had  another." 

As  she  ended,  she  rose  and  walked  across 
the  room.  Her  tone  was  so  decided  that 
Martha  felt  that  she  could  say  nothing  more, 
and  so,  with  a  sigh,  she  gave  up  this  dream 
too. 

In  a  moment  the  princess  returned,  bringing 
two  photographs,  which  she  had  taken  from  a 
drawer. 

"  I  have  been  looking  at  some  old  pictures 
this  morning,"  she  said.  "  This  one  was  taken 
when,  as  a  girl,  I  was  presented  at  the  Eng- 
lish court." 

She  was  silent  while  Martha  was  uttering 


98  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

her  glowing  words  of  praise,  as  she  looked  at 
the  photograph  of  the  beautiful  young  girl  in 
her  white  court-dress  with  plumes  and  veil  ; 
and  then  she  put  the  other  into  her  hand,  say- 
ing quietly  : 

"  This  was  taken  in  my  wedding-dress,  a 
few  days  after  my  marriage." 

Her  manner  indicated  a  controlled  excite- 
ment, but  she  was  quite  unprepared  for  the 
effect  that  this  photograph  had  upon  Martha. 
The  girl  fixed  her  eyes  upon  it  with  a  sort  of 
greedy  delight,  and  while  she  drew  in  her 
breath  with  thick,  short  respirations,  the  hand 
that  held  the  picture  trembled. 

"  I  can  see  it  all  !"  she  exclaimed.  "  Oh, 
Sonia,  were  you  ever  really  as  happy  as  that  ? 
What  were  you  looking  at,  with  your  head 
turned  in  that  eager  way  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  was  a  Happy  Princess  once,  my 
dear.  But  you  are  a  wonderful  creature,  Mar- 
tha !  No  one  but  you  ever  thought  to  ask 
that  question,  so  I  have  been  saved  the  em- 
barrassment of  explaining.  Since  you  have 
asked  me,  I  will  tell  you  that  I  was  looking  at 
my  husband.  While  the  photographer  was 
posing  me  in  various  ways,  my  husband  was 
waiting  for  me.      He  was  supposed  to  be  out 


OH,    SONIA,    WERE    YOU    EVER    REALLY   AS    HAPPY    AS    THAT?'" 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  99 

of  sight,  but  I  heard  a  newspaper  rustle,  and 
looked  quickly  around,  and  caught  a  glimpse 
of  him,  between  two  screens,  seated  quietly 
and  unconsciously  reading  the  paper.  One 
of  those  great  rushes  of  passionate  tenderness 
which  the  sight  of  the  man  she  loves  can  some- 
times bring  to  a  woman's  heart  came  over  me. 
At  that  moment  the  photographer  got  the  in- 
stantaneous impression.  I  don't  know  why  I 
should  tell  you  all  this,  except  that  you  saw  it 
all  there.  To  other  people  there  never  seemed 
any  special  significance  in  the  picture." 

She  reached  out  her  hand  to  take  back  the 
photographs,  but  Martha  handed  her  only  the 
first. 

"  Oh,  Sonia,  let  me  keep  this  !  "  she  begged. 
"  It  is  such  delight  to  me  to  look  at  it !  " 

"  No,  dear ;  I  could  n't.  No  one  but  myself 
should  ever  see  that  picture.  I  ought  not  per- 
haps to  have  shown  it  to  you.  It  was  just  an 
impulse.  Promise  never  to  speak  of  either  of 
these  pictures — not  even  to  me.  You  never 
will  ?  " 

"  Never,"  said  Martha,  sadly,  as  she  gave 
the  picture  up.  Her  friend  took  it,  and,  with- 
out glancing  at  it,  locked  it  away  in  a  drawer. 

When  she  came  back  her  whole  manner  had 


ioo  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

changed.  She  began  at  once  to  talk  about 
her  work  at  the  atelier,  and  told  Martha  that 
Etienne  wished  her  to  enter  a  picture  for  the 
Salon.  The  wedding  preparations  had  kept 
Martha  at  home  a  good  deal  lately,  and  the 
princess  had  some  interesting  bits  of  news  to 
give  her.  She  was  very  graphic  in  her  account 
of  some  of  Etienne's  last  criticisms,  and  got 
into  high  spirits,  in  which  Martha,  somehow, 
could  not  entirely  take  part. 

The  girl  went  away  at  last  rather  heavy- 
hearted.  This  conversation  had  deprived  her 
of  her  last  hope  of  bringing  the  princess  and 
her  brother  together.  She  had  an  engage- 
ment with  Harold  for  the  afternoon,  so  she 
could  not  go  to  the  atelier  ;  but  she  promised 
to  meet  the  princess  there  in  good  time  next 
morning. 

That  afternoon  she  indulged  herself  in  giv- 
ing her  brother  a  brief  account  of  her  romantic 
friendship.  She  did  not,  however,  mention 
the  name  by  which  the  princess  was  known 
to  her,  or  any  but  the  external  facts  in  the 
case. 

As  she  had  foreseen,  her  brother  made  no 
objection  to  the  intercourse,  and  told  her  she 
had  been  very  wise  to  keep  the  whole  thing 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  101 

to  herself.  He  did  not  seem  in  the  least  sur- 
prised that  the  princess  refused  to  make  his 
acquaintance,  and  explained  it  to  Martha  by 
saying  that  she  was  probably  an  independent 
and  self-willed  young  woman,  who  was  dis- 
posed to  suit  only  herself  in  the  matter  of 
friends  ;  but  that  this  was  not  inconsistent  with 
a  certain  regard  for  conventionalities,  and  it 
was  probable  that  she  did  not  care  to  bother 
with  her  family,  or  even  to  take  the  trouble  to 
find  out  anything  about  them.  Martha  felt 
that  her  brother  was  moderately  interested  in 
the  matter  because  of  its  relation  to  herself; 
but  in  spite  of  all  her  enthusiasm  she  could  not 
feel  that  she  had  inspired  him  with  any  special 
interest  in  the  princess,  or  any  appreciably 
greater  desire  to  make  her  acquaintance  than 
she  had  shown  to  make  his. 


IX 


A  few  days  later  Martha  came  to  the  atelier 
in  a  state  of  only  half-concealed  excitement. 
She  had  a  plan  which  she  broached  to  the 
princess  with  some  timidity.  She  began  by 
saying  that  her  brother  was  compelled  to  be 
absent  from  Paris  during  the  whole  of  the  next 
day,  and  that,  as  it  was  Sunday,  and  there 
would  be  no  work  at  the  atelier,  she  would 
have  the  whole  day  on  her  hands. 

"  Come  and  spend  it  with  me,"  said  the 
princess. 

"  Oh,  if  you  would  only  come  and  spend  it 
with  mc  /  "  said  Martha,  so  wistfully  that  her 
friend  laughed  gaily,  and  said : 

-Why  not?" 

"  Harold  takes  an  early  train,  and  will  not 
be  back  until  night,"  said  Martha;  "and  it 
would  be  such  joy  to  have  you  in  my  own 
room,  sitting  in  my  own  chair,  lying  on  my 
own  bed,  standing  on  my  own  rugs,  and  giv- 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  103 

ing  me  sweet  associations  with  these  things 
forever." 

"  Of  course  I  '11  come — with  pleasure,"  said 
Sonia,  pausing  in  her  work  to  answer  Marthas 
whispered  words. 

So,  in  this  dream,  at  least,  Martha  was  not 
to  be  disappointed ;  and  she  parted  from  her 
friend  with  the  delightful  expectation  that  she 
was  to  see  her  next  as  her  guest. 

The  young  girl  waked  early  next  morning, 
and  had  her  first  breakfast  with  her  brother ; 
and  after  he  had  gone  she  found  the  time  long 
while  she  waited  for  her  visitor.  No  definite 
hour  had  been  agreed  upon,  and  she  was  afraid 
that  the  princess  would  come  far  too  late  to 
suit  her  eager  longing.  Still  she  had  not  liked 
to  urge  too  much  upon  her. 

Martha  had  ordered  heaps  of  flowers  to 
make  her  room  and  the  little  boudoir  which 
adjoined  it  look  attractive  ;  and  she  took  Har- 
old in  to  inspect  them  before  he  went  away. 
He  rushed  through  hurriedly,  said  everything 
was  charming,  gave  her  a  hasty  kiss,  and  was 
gone. 

She  stood  at  the  window,  which  looked 
upon  the  Place  de  la  Madeleine,  and  waited  a 
long  time,  thinking  deeply.     The  flower-mar- 


io4  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

ket  below  was  unusually  rich,  as  the  clay  was 
warm  and  springlike  ;  and  it  presently  occurred 
to  her  that  among  the  glowing  masses  of  bloom 
exposed  to  view  there  were  some  varieties  of 
flowers  which  she  did  not  have.  She  there- 
fore determined  to  fill  up  a  part  of  the  time  of 
waiting  by  going  down  to  get  some  of  these. 
Hastily  putting  on  her  hat,  she  ran  down  the 
winding  stairway,  crossed  the  open  space,  and 
was  soon  threading  her  way  among  the  flower- 
stalls  under  the  shadow  of  the  beautiful  great 
church.  She  kept  her  eye  on  the  entrance  to 
her  apartment-house,  however ;  and  as  she 
knew  the  princess's  carriage  and  livery,  she 
felt  that  there  was  no  danger  of  failing  to  see 
her  friend,  should  she  happen  to  arrive  during 
her  brief  absence. 

The  princess,  however,  did  not  come  in  her 
carriage,  or,  rather,  she  sent  it  away  after  hav- 
ing crossed  the  thronged  streets  of  the  Place 
de  la  Concorde,  and,  wrapped  in  her  dark 
cloak,  she  walked  quickly  along  with  the  foot- 
passengers  until  she  reached  the  house  of 
which  she  was  in  search.  Then  she  slipped 
quietly  in,  and  mounted  the  steps  to  the  third 
story. 

Her  ring  was  answered  by  a  man-servant, 


"'I    BEG   YOUR    PARDON,'    HE    SAID    AGAIN. 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  105 

who  explained  that  his  young  mistress  had 
just  gone  down  to  the  flower-market  for  a  mo- 
ment, and  who  ushered  her  into  the  laree  salon 
to  wait. 

Scarcely  was  she  seated  there  when  the  bell 
rang  again,  and  the  servant  opened  the  door 
to  admit  Harold.  He  had  forgotten  an  impor- 
tant paper,  and  had  come  back  for  it  in  great 
haste.  He  knew  that  it  was  his  part  to  avoid 
the  princess  in  case  she  should  have  arrived ; 
but  concluding  that  she  would,  of  course,  be 
with  Martha  in  her  own  rooms,  he  came  di- 
rectly into  the  salon,  which  was  the  nearest 
way  of  reaching  his  own  apartment. 

When  he  had  entered,  and  the  door  was 
closed  behind  him,  he  took  two  or  three  steps 
forward,  and  then  stopped  as  if  petrified  in  his 
place. 

The  princess  had  risen  to  her  feet,  and  stood 
confronting  him,  her  face  as  pale  and  agitated 
as  his  own. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  he  said,  taking  off  his 
hat  mechanically  ;  "  did  you,  perhaps,  wish  to 
see  me  ?  " 

"No,"  she  answered;  "  I  wished  to  see 
your  sister.  She  has  gone  across  to  the  flow- 
er-market." 


106  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

Her  eyes  had  fallen  under  his,  and  she  felt 
that  she  was  trembling  as  she  stood  in  front  of 
him  and  answered  his  questions  as  mechani- 
cally as  a  stupid  child. 

11 1  beg  your  pardon,"  he  said  again  ;  and 
he  seemed  to  grow  paler  still  as  he  stood  there 
irresolute. 

"  Do  you  wish  to  see  my  sister  alone?  "  he 
then  said.  "  I  don't  understand.  Do  you 
wish  me  to  stay  or  to  go  ?  " 

"  I  wish  you  to  go,"  she  said,  rallying  a  lit- 
tle as  the  thought  occurred  to  her  that  Martha 
might  return.  "  Your  sister  is  expecting  me. 
I  came  with  the  understanding  that  you  were 
to  be  away." 

A  light  broke  over  him,  but  it  cast  a  sudden 
shadow  on  his  face. 

"You  are,  then,  the  princess  of  whom  she 
has  spoken  to  me,"  he  said.  "  I  beg  your 
pardon." 

"  I  am  Sophia  Rutledge,"  she  said.  "  Mar- 
tha believes  me  to  be  a  princess,  and  I  let  her 
think  it.  Some  one  in  the  atelier  told  her  so. 
What  will  you  tell  her  now  ?  " 

14  Exactly  what  you  wish." 

14  Say  nothing.  Let  her  keep  her  delusion. 
Her  friendship  is  dear  to  me  ;  I  do  not  wish 
it  turned  to  hate." 


'AMONG   THE    FLOWER  STALLS. 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  107 

"  I  shall  say  nothing,"  he  said. 

They  both  stood  silent  there  a  moment, 
looking  away  from  each  other.  Then  the  wo- 
man, feeling  her  knees  grow  weak  and  trem- 
bling under  her,  sank  back  into  her  seat ;  and 
the  man,  urged  by  some  impulse  of  self-pro- 
tection which  demanded  that  he  should  fly, 
had  bowed  and  left  the  room  before  she  had 
quite  recovered  from  the  momentary  dizziness 
which  had  possessed  her  as  she  fell  into  her 
chair.  She  heard  the  front  door  close  behind 
him  presently,  and  knew  that  he  was  gone. 
Then  she  felt  that  she  must  brace  herself  to 
meet  Martha  calmly. 

When  the  young  girl,  a  few  moments  later, 
came  in  with  her  load  of  flowers,  and  smilingly 
uttered  her  apologies  and  surprise  at  having 
missed  her,  her  friend's  senses  seemed  some- 
how to  return,  and  she  was  able  to  answer 
calmly. 

It  seemed  to  Martha  that  the  beautiful  prin- 
cess looked  ill,  and  she  was  tenderly  anxious 
about  her  ;  but  she  little  suspected  that  during 
those  few  moments  of  her  absence  Sonia  and 
her  old  love  had  been  face  to  face,  or,  more 
marvelous  still,  that  Harold  had  seen  again 
the  woman  who  had  been  his  wife. 


X 


The  impression  left  upon  the  mind  of  Sonia 
by  that  meeting  with  Harold  was  an  intensely 
disturbing  one.  Even  the  stirrings  of  old  feel- 
ing, and  the  memories  of  past  pleasures  and 
pains,  which  the  sight  of  him  had  recalled, 
were  less  strong  in  her  than  a  certain  feeling 
of  humiliation.  She  felt  that  she  had  been 
overcome  by  so  great  a  weakness  that  she 
must  have  made  a  self-betrayal  of  which  it 
nearly  maddened  her  to  think.  Knowing  how 
completely  she  had  been  thrown  off  her  guard 
by  this  totally  unexpected  meeting,  she  felt 
that  every  emotion  of  her  heart,  which  she 
herself  was  so  conscious  of,  had  been  laid  bare 
to  him,  and  she  could  not  rest  for  the  torment 
of  that  thought.  Her  hours  with  Martha  were 
therefore  disturbed  and  unsatisfactory  to  them 
both  ;  and  when,  soon  after  the  mid-day  meal, 
Martha  asked  her  if  she  would  like  to  drive, 
she  accepted  the  relief  of  that  idea  with  alac- 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  109 

rity,  only  stipulating  that  they  should  not  go 
to  the  crowded  Bois. 

Martha  ordered  the  carriage,  and  they  drove 
about  for  an  hour  or  two,  stopping  several 
times  to  go  in  and  look  at  churches  which  they 
had  often  seen,  but  never  entered.  In  some 
of  these  vespers  were  in  progress,  and  they 
paid  their  sous  for  seats  near  the  door,  and  sat 
down  for  a  few  moments  ;  but  the  music  played 
too  dangerously  upon  Sonia's  overwrought 
feelings,  and  she  hurried  her  friend  away. 

In  one  or  two  of  the  smaller  churches  there 
were  only  silent  kneeling  figures  here  and 
there,  and  the  two  women  walked  about,  look- 
ing at  the  mixture  of  dignified  antiquity  and 
tawdry  decoration  on  every  side,  and  reading 
the  tablets  all  about  the  approach  to  the  chan- 
cel, erected  as  thank-offerings  to  Mary  and 
Joseph  for  favors  granted.  In  spite  of  her  in- 
ward perturbation,  Sonia  could  not  help  smil- 
ing at  the  economy  of  words  on  some  of  these. 
One  or  two  had  merely,  "  Merci,  Joseph,"  or 
"  Merci,  Marie  et  Joseph,"  while  the  more 
elaborate  ones  recorded  the  thanks  of  the 
giver  of  the  tablet  for  a  favor  received  —  the 
restoration  of  a  beloved  child  from  illness,  the 
conversion  of  an  erring  son,  the  rescue  of  a 


no  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

husband  from  shipwreck,  and  even  the  mirac- 
ulous intervention  of  Mary  and  Joseph  to  re- 
store to  health  a  little  boy  who  had  been  gored 
by  a  bull.  The  very  ignorance  of  it  was  touch- 
ing to  the  two  women,  and  the  conviction  that 
it  was  in  each  of  these  poor  hearts  a  reaching 
upward  kept  them  from  feeling  any  scorn. 

As  they  returned  to  their  carriage,  Martha, 
who  during  the  recent  scene  had  been  furtively 
watching  her  friend's  face,  now  saw  upon  it  an 
expression  which  she  was  at  a  loss  to  account 
for.  Was  it,  she  wondered,  religious  devo- 
tion, stirred  by  the  associations  of  the  church, 
which  made  the  lovely  face  beside  her  look  so 
passionately  tense  with  feeling  ?  For  the  first 
time  it  occurred  to  her  to  wonder  what  her 
friend's  religion  was. 

"  Are  you  a  Catholic,  Sonia?"  she  said. 

The  answer  came  impulsively  : 

"  No,  I  am  not  a  Catholic.  It  is  easier  to 
say  what  I  am  not  than  what  I  am — except 
that,  before  and  beyond  all,  I  am  a  miserable 
woman." 

As  these  words  escaped  her  the  lack  of  self- 
control  of  which  they  gave  proof  was  so  alarm- 
ing to  her  that  she  bested  her  friend  to  take 
her  home  at  once,  saying  that  she  was  really 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  ill 

not  well,  and  must  be  alone  to  rest.  Martha 
felt  chilled  and  hurt.  It  was  all  so  disappoint- 
ing, and  she  seemed  so  completely  put  at  a 
distance.  The  day  which  she  had  looked  for- 
ward to  with  such  eager  joy  had  turned  out 
dreary  and  sad.  There  was  nothing  to  do, 
however,  but  to  drive  her  friend  back  to  her 
apartment. 

When  they  got  there,  Sonia  turned  and 
kissed  her  warmly,  but  said  nothing ;  and 
Martha  drove  home,  feeling  lonely  and  per- 
plexed. 

She  did  not  expect  to  see  the  princess  at 
the  atelier  next  morning  ;  but  to  her  amaze- 
ment, when  she  got  there  quite  early  herself, 
the  beautiful,  lithe  figure  was  already  before 
the  easel,  hard  at  work.  There  was,  more- 
over, an  air  of  strength  and  self-reliance  about 
her  which  offered  the  greatest  contrast  to  her 
manner  of  the  day  before. 

As  Martha  came  into  the  room,  Sonia,  who 
was  one  of  the  quiet  group  around  the  model 
—  a  thin  child  who  twitched  and  wriggled  and 
could  not  keep  still  for  two  consecutive  min- 
utes— waved  her  a  welcome  with  a  little 
flourish  of  her  brush,  and  gave  her  a  bright, 
decided  nod.     It  was  too  late  for  Martha  to 


ii2  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

get  a  position  near  her,  so  talk  was  impossible 
until  the  midday  recess ;  but  that  gesture, 
glance,  and  bow  of  the  head  were  enough  of 
themselves  to  put  new  spirit  into  the  girl,  and 
she  found  her  place,  and  fell  to  work,  going 
ahead  with  more  vim  than  she  had  been  able 
to  command  for  a  long  time. 

When  rest- time  came  the  two  friends  showed 
their  canvases  to  each  other,  and  both  of  them 
could  see  the  improvement  in  their  work. 
Feeling  much  encouraged,  they  went  off"  to  the 
butcher's  shop,  selected  their  chops,  and  while 
waiting  for  them  to  be  cooked,  sat  at  their 
little  table  in  the  crajicric,  and  talked. 

At  first  they  spoke  only  of  their  atelier  work 
and  Etienne's  criticisms  and  suggestions ;  but 
when  that  was  pretty  much  talked  out  for  the 
moment,  Sonia,  with  a  sudden  change  of  man- 
ner, said  abruptly  : 

"  I  want  to  atone  to  you  for  the  gruesome 
mood  that  I  was  in  when  I  went  to  see  you 
yesterday.  If  you  '11  invite  me  again,  I  will 
be  different  —  and,  oh,  by  the  way,  I  've  got 
over  that  foolish  idea  that  I  had  about  not 
meeting  your  brother.  If  it  would  give  you 
any  pleasure,  I  don't  in  the  least  object.  It 
would  certainly  be  very  silly  to  let  him  spoil 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  113 

this  beautiful  chance  of  our  being  together,  as 
it  would  if  I  refused  to  meet  him." 

Martha  looked  at  her  in  surprise.  She  had 
so  entirely  made  up  her  mind  that  the  powers 
had  decreed  that  these  two  beings  should  not 
meet  that  Sonia's  words  rather  disconcerted 
her. 

"  Oh,  are  you  not  pleased  ?  "  said  the  latter, 
disappointedly.  "  I  thought  it  would  delight 
you." 

"  So  it  does,"  said  Martha,  quickly;  "  but,  to 
be  perfectly  frank,  I  had  so  entirely  accepted 
the  idea  that  there  might  be  some  unknown 
danger  in  a  meeting  between  you  two  that  I 
had  given  it  up  ;  and  now  that  the  likelihood 
of  it  comes  again,  some  sense  of  danger  comes 
with  it.  You  both  seem  such  tremendous 
forces — in  my  eyes,  at  least, —  that  it  is  not 
like  any  ordinary  acquaintanceship.  It  is  very 
foolish,  though  ;  for  even  two  locomotives  may 
rush  toward  each  other  without  daneer,  if  each 
is  solid  on  its  own  track,  leading  to  its  differ- 
ent destination.  And  surely  no  harm  is  done 
when  they  come  very  close,  and  exchange  sig- 
nals of  friendliness,  and  then  part,  and  go  their 
opposite  ways." 

"  Perfectly  sage   and  true!       Most  wisely 


U4  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

spoken!"  said  Sonia.  "  So  you  are  reconciled 
now,  are  you?  What  weathercocks  we  wo- 
men are  !  I  am  sure  I  may  say  it  of  you  as 
well  as  of  myself,  contrasting  your  former 
eagerness  with  your  present  reluctance  for 
this  meeting.  Well,  I  suppose  it  's  a  part  of 
our  nature,  and  I  don't  know  that  men  are  so 
very  different." 

"  Harold  is  different,"  said  Martha. 

"  Oh,  no  doubt  he  is  quite,  quite  the  imma- 
culate," said  her  friend,  lightly ;  and  then, 
with  a  sudden  change,  she  added  in  tones  of 
extreme  earnestness : 

"  Martha,  you  have  never  told  him  one  word 
about  me  —  have  you  ?  Nothing,  I  mean,  of 
what  I  have  told  you  or  let  you  see  concerning 
myself.  All  that  was  and  must  remain  sacred 
between  you  and  me." 

"  Not  a  word,  not  a  syllable  !  "  cried  Mar- 
tha. "  How  could  you  even  ask  ?  He  knows 
of  you  only  as  my  atelier  friend,  and  that  you 
are  a  Russian  princess,  and  he  knows  of  my 
visits  to  you,  and  my  love  and  admiration  for 
you;  but  not  one  word  of  what  your  confidence 
has  taken  me  into  about  yourself  personally. 
I  told  him  how  little  I  knew  or  cared  to  know 
about  you — that  you  were  a  young  and  beau- 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  115 

tiful  widow,  whose  past  history  was  wholly  un- 
known to  me.  What  you  have  let  me  see  of 
the  writing  which  that  history  has  made  upon 
your  heart  was  a  sacred  confidence  which  no 
power  could  ever  draw  out  of  me." 

"  I  knew  it,  dear.  I  never  doubted  it.  Don't 
defend  yourself,  as  if  I  had  distrusted  you.  It 
is  because  I  do  trust  you  that  I  consent  to 
meet  your  brother.  I  would  certainly  not  wil- 
lingly make  .the  acquaintance  of  any  man  who 
could  possibly  be  supposed  to  know  as  much 
of  my  heart  and  its  weaknesses  as  I  have  re- 
vealed to  you." 

"  And  when  will  you  come  to  me  again  ?  " 
said  Martha,  allowing  herself  to  feel  unchecked 
the  joy  which  the  prospect  before  her  stirred 
within  her  heart. 

"  I  will  dine  with  you  to-morrow,  if  you 
like,"  said  Sonia,  with  an  air  of  decision. 

It  was  an  intense  surprise  to  Harold  when 
Martha  told  him  that  the  princess  was  to  dine 
with  her  next  evening.  He  at  once  proposed 
to  go  out  and  leave  them  tete-a-tete,  but  his 
wonder  increased  when  he  was  told  that  the 
princess  had  avowed  her  willingness  to  meet 
him.  After  hearing  that,  there  was  but  one 
thing  for  him  to  do.     This  he  saw  plainly ; 


u6  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

but  at  the  same  time  he  realized  that  a  more 
difficult  ordeal  could  not  possibly  bo  put  be- 
fore him.  What  could  be  her  object  in  a 
course  so  extraordinary,  and  what  could  be 
the  feeling  in  her  heart  to  make  such  a  course 
possible  ? 

He  had  believed  her  to  be  deeply  moved, 
as  no  sensitive  woman  could  fail  to  be,  by  their 
unexpected  meeting  of  the  day  before ;  but 
that  she  should  deliberately  wish  to  repeat  the 
meeting  looked  like  the  most  heartless  caprice. 
She  had  always  been  capricious,  daring,  and 
impetuous,  and  had  loved  to  do  unusual  and 
exciting  things ;  but  that  he  could  excuse  as 
a  part  of  her  character  and  individuality. 
Heartless  he  had  never  had  occasion  to  think 
her.  Even  her  sudden  recoil  from  him  and 
repudiation  of  their  marriage  he  believed  to 
be  the  result  of  some  commanding  quality  of 
her  fine  nature,  which  he  could  not  help  rever- 
encing, even  though  he  did  not  comprehend  it. 

The  courtship  of  Harold  Keene  and  Sophia 
Rutledge  had  been  very  short,  and  their  wed- 
ding sudden.  He  had  met  the  young  English 
girl  in  London  near  the  close  of  the  season  ; 
had  seen  her  first  in  her  court-dress,  at  her 
presentation  ;  and  had  afterward  spent  ten 
days  with  her  at  a  country  house.     Their  urn- 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  117 

tual  attraction  had  been  a  current  which  had 
swept  everything  before  it ;  and  when  it  had 
to  be  decided  whether  or  not  she  should  go  on 
a  voyage  to  Japan  with  her  aunt,  as  had  been 
planned, — a  prospect  which  would  separate 
them  for  months  to  come, —  they  took  things 
into  their  own  hands,  and  were  married  at 
short  notice.  The  parents  of  Miss  Rutledge 
were  both  dead.  Her  father,  an  Englishman, 
had  married  a  Russian ;  and  it  was  her  mo- 
ther's sister  with  whom  she  was  supposed  to 
live,  though  she  had  spent  most  of  her  grown- 
up years,  and  all  of  her  childhood,  in  England. 
Her  aunt  was  now  a  widow  and  a  feverishly 
enthusiastic  traveler,  and  the  girl  had  looked 
forward  with  some  pleasure  to  the  long  travels 
ahead  of  them.  Her  sudden  marriage  to  the 
young  American,  introduced  to  her  by  some 
common  friends,  changed  her  life  absolutely ; 
but  Harold  was  determined  that  she  should 
realize  at  least  one  of  her  ardent  dreams  of 
travel,  and  take  a  journey  up  the  Nile.  Soon 
after  their  marriage  they  had  set  out  on  this 
journey,  and  the  history  of  its  rapturous  be- 
ginning and  miserable  ending  was  known  only 
to  themselves. 

In  this  way  it  had  happened  that  Harold's 
wife  had  never  been  seen  by  his  family,  and  he 


i  lS  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

had  even  declined  to  send  them  a  photograph 
of  her.  He  said  he  disliked  photographs,  and 
none  could  ever  give  a  fair  representation  of 
his  beautiful  wife.  He  wrote  Martha  that  she 
must  do  her  best  to  restrain  her  impatience, 
as  they  were  to  come  at  once  to  America  at 
the  end  of  their  honeymoon  on  the  Nile,  and 
to  make  their  home  there,  while  he  settled 
down  to  work. 

Instead  of  this,  however,  came  the  brief  an- 
nouncement of  their  separation,  which  almost 
broke  Martha's  heart.  She  had  put  aside  any 
natural  feeling  of  deprivation  and  pain,  to  throw 
herself,  heart  and  soul,  into  the  delight  of 
Harold's  romantic  marriage,  and  as  the  young 
couple  dreamed  their  way  up  the  old  Nile,  she 
dreamed  it  with  them.  It  is  probable  that 
few  people  in  the  world  get  the  intense  joy 
out  of  their  personal  experiences  of  love  that 
this  ardent  and  impassioned  girl  derived  from 
the  mere  imagination  of  her  brother's  happi- 
ness. The  blow  that  followed  it  was  therefore 
very  keen  and  deep.  The  courage  and  com- 
plete reserve  which  her  brother  had  shown  in 
the  matter  had  given  her  strength  to  bear  it ; 
but,  in  spite  of  that,  a  permanent  shadow  had 
been  cast  upon  her  life. 


XI 


As  Sonia  got  out  of  her  carriage  before 
the  house  in  the  Place  de  la  Madeleine,  and 
mounted  the  steps  with  her  maid,  her  heart 
was  beating  violently,  but  she  had  never  been 
stronger  in  the  sense  of  complete  self-posses- 
sion. She  knew  that  a  difficult  ordeal  was 
before  her,  but  she  had  no  fear  that  her  spirit 
would  falter.  It  was  only  necessary  for  her 
to  remember  her  former  weakness,  and  how 
she  had  paled  and  cowered  before  Harold,  to 
make  her  securer  in  her  defiant  resolution  with 
every  pulse-beat. 

At  the  door  of  the  apartment  she  dismissed 
her  maid,  and,  dropping  the  train  of  her  heavy 
dress,  swept  into  the  little  ante-chamber,  re- 
gally tall  and  self-collected,  to  the  admiration 
of  the  servants,  who  thought  her  every  inch  a 
princess. 

A  door  opposite  opened,  and  Martha  ap- 
peared in  a  pretty  evening  gown  and  led  her 
friend  into  the  salon. 


i2o  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

Near  the  table,  holding  the  " Figaro"  in  his 
hands,  and  bending  his  eyes  upon  its  columns, 
sat  Harold.  His  severe  evening  dress,  his 
grave,  dark  face,  with  its  close- trimmed,  pointed 
beard,  and  his  straight,  smooth  hair,  with  its 
definite  part,  all  spoke  of  composure,  delibera- 
tion, and  repose. 

He  rose  to  his  feet,  laid  down  the  paper, 
and  stood  in  his  place,  waiting.  His  sisters 
iniest  had  taken  off  her  lace  hood  and  thrown 
open  her  cloak,  between  the  parted  folds  of 
which  appeared  a  rich  evening  dress.  She 
came  forward,  moving  lightly  in  her  heavy 
garments,  and  when  Martha,  with  a  fluttering 
heart,  which  made  her  manner  somewhat  ex- 
cited and  confused,  said,  looking  from  one  to 
the  other,  "My  brother,  Mr.  Keene — the 
Princess  Mannernorff,"  she  looked  him  full  in 
the  face  with  what  Martha  thought  a  rather 
haughty  look,  and  gave  him  a  somewhat  cere- 
monious bow. 

Harold  met  her  gaze  with  unflinching  eyes, 
and  bowed  in  his  turn  with  an  air  which  Mar- 
tha thought  unnecessarily  formal  and  distant. 
After  all  she  had  said  to  each  about  the  other, 
it  disappointed  her  that  their  meeting  should 
be    so    absolutely    without    cordiality.       She 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  121 

asked  her  friend  if  she  would  come  into  her 
room  to  lay  aside  her  wraps ;  but  the  latter 
declined,  and  threw  her  cloak  and  hood  upon 
a  chair  before  Harold  had  time  to  offer  his 
assistance. 

She  was  dressed  in  a  plain  gown  of  thick 
yellow  satin,  with  trimmings  of  brown  fur  and 
creamy  lace.     A  diamond  arrow  pierced  the 
mass  of  her  rich  brown  hair,  and  a  great  clasp 
of  many-colored  jewels  in  an  antique  setting 
held  the  folds  of  her  gown  at  the  waist.      She 
wore  no  other  ornaments,  and  her  beautiful 
arms    and    hands  were  without    bracelets  or 
rings.     She  did  not  seat  herself,  but  opened  a 
fan,  and  stood  waving  it  softly  as  she  looked 
down    at    Martha    from    her    greater    height. 
The    introduction    had,    of   course,    been    in 
French,   and    the    conversation   continued    in 
that  language. 

In  strong  contrast  to  her  glowing  brilliancy 
of  color  Harold  was  very  pale  as  he  stood  with 
his  shoulders  braced  against  the  mantel,  and 
talked  to  her.  He  was,  however,  quite  as 
collected  as  she. 

Presently  she  began  to  wonder  dimly  if  he 
were  not  more  so  ;  for  underneath  her  assured 
calm  of  manner  there  was  a  wild  excitement 


122  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

of  which  she  was  intensely  aware,  and  all  the 
force  of  her  will  was  set  upon  the  effort  of 
concealing  it  from  her  companions. 

She  did  not  wish  Martha  to  know  that  she 
was  excited ;  and  to  have  this  quiet  man  in 
front  of  her  get  even  a  suspicion  that  she  was 
not  fully  as  composed  as  he  appeared  to  be, 
was  a  thought  that  she  could  not  endure. 

She  began  to  talk  about  the  atelier  where 
she  and  Martha  had  met  and  made  friends, 
and  she  gave  an  amusing  description  of  her 
first  encounter  with  Etienne  when  she  had 
gone  there  to  enter  her  name  as  a  pupil. 

"  It  was  my  first  venture  into  the  Bohemia 
of  the  Latin  Quarter,"  she  said;  "and  I  felt 
brave,  but  self-protective,  when  I  reached  the 
place  and  went  in,  with  my  maid,  to  investi- 
gate. The  cloak-room  was  empty,  and  when 
I  got  to  the  atelier,  and  walked  around  the 
great  piece  of  sail-cloth  which  turned  its  dirty 
and  undecorated  side  toward  me,  I  saw  a  fat 
little  old  man,  in  carpet  slippers,  and  a  dirty, 
besmeared  linen  blouse,  and  black  skull-cap, 
washing  brushes  in  some  soft  soap  contained 
in  an  old  lobster-can.  '  I  wish  to  see  M. 
Etienne,'  I  said  rather  haughtily  ;  and  to  my 
great   indignation  he  answered,   still  dabbing 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  123 

and  flattening  out  his  brushes  in  their  lather 
of  soap,  '  What  do  you  want  with  him  ?  '  My 
maid  quite  jumped  with  fright,  and  I,  wishing 
to  show  my  courage,  said  severely,  '  That  is 
what  does  not  concern  you.'  Instead  of  show- 
ing the  self-abasement  which  I  thought  my 
rebuke  merited,  he  said  amiably,  still  rubbing 
his  brushes  round  and  round  :  'But  yes,  it 
does  ;  for  I  'in  the  man  you  are  looking  for. 
What  will  you  have  ?  '  I  was  so  honestly  dis- 
comfited that  he  kindly  came  to  the  rescue, 
and,  overlooking  my  blunder,  began  to  talk 
business.  I  have  heard  since  that  the  mistake 
which  I  made  had  been  so  frequently  made 
before  that  I  suppose  he  scarcely  noticed  it." 

As  she  ceased  speaking,  the  readiness  with 
which  Martha  took  advantage  of  the  pause  to 
move  toward  the  dining-room  suddenly  made 
her  aware  that  dinner  must  have  been  an- 
nounced,— how  long  ago  she  could  not  tell, — 
and  that  her  garrulous  speech  and  gesticula- 
tion had  prevented  her  from  hearing  it.  Her 
back  was  toward  the  door;  but  how  excited 
she  must  have  been,  and  appeared,  not  to 
have  been  aware  of  the  announcement !  Her 
face  flushed,  and  she  bit  her  lip  with  vexation. 

Martha  looked  at  her  brother,    supposing 


124  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

that  he  would  offer  his  arm  to  their  guest. 
Instead  of  doing  so,  however,  he  merely  stood 
aside  and  waited  for  the  two  ladies  to  go  into 
the  dining-room  before  him.  In  doing  this, 
Sonia  passed  very  near  him  ;  and  with  a 
feeling  of  defiance  in  her  breast  she  looked 
straight  at  him. 

He  did  not  meet  her  gaze,  however;  for 
his  own  eyes  were  gravely  lowered  and  hid 
behind  a  pair  of  heavy  lids,  the  curves  and 
lashes  of  which  were  startlingly  familiar  to 
her. 

In  the  lull  which  the  formalities  of  the  mo- 
ment occasioned,  it  was  painfully  borne  in  on 
Sonia  that  she  had  been  too  talkative.  Her 
recent  rapid  speech  smote  annoyingly  on  her 
ears ;  and  when  she  recalled  the  fact  that  she 
had  done  all  the  talking,  and  must  have  made 
an  appearance  of  almost  vulgar  chattiness,  she 
felt  humiliated  and  indignant.  Was  she  ex- 
posing her  inward  excitement  to  this  quiet 
man,  who  was  now  giving  some  low-toned 
instructions  to  the  butler  with  a  self-possession 
which  she  suddenly  envied  ?  Feeling  hurt  and 
angry,  she  fell  into  utter  silence. 

A  constraint  had  fallen  upon  the  party 
which  was  even  more  marked  than  that  which 


SONIA     PASSED    VERY    NEAR     HIM." 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  125 

usually  characterizes  the  first  moments  at  a 
formal  table.  Sonia  felt  that  she  would  bite 
her  tongue  in  two  before  she  would  speak 
again,  and  Martha  had  a  helpless  sense  that 
things  were  somehow  going  wrong.  It  was 
Harold  who  broke  the  silence. 

"Martha,"  he  said,  "the  princess  will  say, 
perhaps,  what  wine  she  prefers." 

Sonia  felt  as  if  she  hated  him.  He  knew 
all  her  little  aversions  and  preferences  as  well 
as  she  knew  them  herself,  and  had  ordered 
her  dinners  and  wines  times  out  of  number. 
How  could  he  pretend  that  he  had  never 
seen  her  before,  with  so  much  success  as  al- 
most to  impose  upon  herself?  Was  it  really 
a  dream  ?  Which  was  the  dream,  the  past  or 
the  present?  How  could  he  seem  to  be  so 
indifferent,  unless  he  really  felt  so  ?  Perhaps 
he  was.  That  might  be  the  simple  explana- 
tion of  what  seemed  mysterious. 

As  these  thoughts  hurried  through  her  mind 
while  she  made  a  pretense  of  eating  her  soup, 
it  suddenly  occurred  to  her  that  her  present 
complete  silence  might  look  as  odd  as  her  for- 
mer garrulousness.  Harold,  while  eating  his 
dinner  with  apparent  relish,  was  doing  all  the 
talking  now,  but  with  how  different  a  manner 


126  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

from  hers!  How  quiet  he  was,  and  what  well- 
bred  pauses  interspersed  his  talk,  and  how 
agreeably  he  deferred  to  Martha  and  herself, 
and  brought  them  into  it!  She  had  come  to 
this  dinner  with  the  proudest  confidence  of  be- 
in  o-  able  to  conform  the  conditions  about  her 
absolutely  to  her  will,  and  yet,  in  spite  of 
herself,  she  seemed  to  be  sinking  deeper  and 
deeper  every  moment  into  the  slough  of  re- 
gret and  self-reproach  which  she  had  come 
here  to  get  out  of. 

As  the  meal  proceeded,  her  self-dissatisfac- 
tion increased,  and  presently,  with  a  feeling 
almost  of  panic,  she  realized  that  her  conduct 
must  be  so  peculiar  as  to  cause  surprise  to 
Martha,  if  not  to  her  brother.  What  inter- 
pretation would  be  put  upon  the  sudden 
dumbness  that  possessed  her?  A  very  obvi- 
ous one  occurred  to  her,  which  it  filled  her 
with  anger  to  think  of,  and  she  felt  she  must 
talk,  must  recover  herself,  must  do  away  with 
the  impression  of  her  present  stupidity. 

Martha,  groping  about  for  an  agreeable 
topic,  had  mentioned  the  young  bridal  cou- 
ple, and  a  telegram  which  she  had  just  re- 
ceived from  them,  and  that  led  her  to  some 
remarks  about  the  wedding. 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  127 

"Oh,  it  was  a  beautiful  wedding  —  I  was 
there  ! "  said  Sonia,  in  a  breathless  endeavor 
to  come  naturally  into  the  talk. 

As  she  spoke  she  met  Harold's  eyes,  and 
thought  that  she  discovered  just  a  shade  of 
surprise  in  them.  He  only  bowed,  however, 
in  assent  to  her  rather  demonstrative  expres- 
sion of  praise.  Sonia  felt  at  once  that  her 
attendance  at  any  wedding,  particularly  that 
one,  was  a  thing  that  grated  on  him.  His 
presence  there  was,  of  course,  a  necessity ; 
but  the  odious  taste  of  her  going,  out  of  pure 
curiosity,  as  it  would  appear  to  him,  to  see 
this  marriage,  must  add  one  more  item  to 
the  evidence  which  was  rolling  up  against 
her.  She  was  experiencing  what  was  new 
to  her — a  sensation  of  total  inadequacy  to 
the  social  demands  of  her  surroundings. 

"  Harold,  do  you  think  you  can  possibly 
stay  for  the  opening  of  the  Salon  ?  "  said  Mar- 
tha,  presently,  in  another  effort  to  make  the 
conversation  go.  This  was  a  topic  which  she 
thought  Sonia  should  be  interested  in.  Ap- 
parently she  was  right. 

"  I  'm  going  to  exhibit  a  picture,"  said  So^ 
nia,  quickly. 

Sonia  had  thought  only  of  recovering  her- 


128  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

self  1)\-  talking  naturally,  and  this  speech,  as 
well  as  the  last  one,  she  regretted  bitterly  the 
moment  she  had  uttered  it.  Not  only  did  it 
seem  in  bad  taste  to  speak  of  her  exhibiting, 
when  Martha  was  so  far  removed  from  such 
an  honor,  but  it  might  also  make  the  impres- 
sion that  she  thought  that  the  fact  might  be 
an  inducement  for  him  to  stay  for  the  Salon. 
It  was  maddening  to  have  him  look  at  her 
again  with  polite  interest,  and  express  his  con- 
gratulations upon  a  fact  of  which  she  now  felt 
heartily  ashamed.  How  he  must  despise  her  ! 
What  should  she  do  ? 

"  I  wonder,"  said  Martha,  at  this  point,  in 
her  clear,  low  voice,  "  if  Harold  has  ever  seen 
that  striking  picture  that  hangs  in  your  room, 
Sonia.  It  is  Watts's  '  Hope,'  Harold.  Do  you 
know  it  ?  " 

Harold  answered  that  he  did  not,  and  So- 
ma's sense  of  helpless  misery  increased  as  she 
perceived  that  Martha  was  going  to  describe 
it.  She  bit  her  tongue  to  keep  from  crying 
out  as  Martha  proceeded  to  give  the  following 
description  : 

"  It  is  a  woman's  figure  lying  on  the  globe 
in  an  attitude  of  fatigue  and  dejection.  The 
scantily  draped  form  is  beautiful,  but  not  youth- 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  129 

ful -looking,  and  the  face,  partly  concealed  by 
a  bandage  over  the  eyes,  is  also  beautiful,  but 
lined  with  care  and  sorrow.  In  her  hands  she 
holds  an  old  lyre  with  every  string  broken  ex- 
cept one.  This  one  string,  frayed  and  worn 
and  lax,  she  is  striking  with  her  thin,  weak 
fingers,  and  she  is  bending  her  dulled  ears 
to  try  to  catch  the  note.  When  Sonia  first 
showed  it  to  me,  and  said  that  it  was  one  of 
her  favorite  pictures,  I  did  not  understand  it. 
We  have  all  been  taught  at  Etienne's  such  a 
fine  contempt  for  English  art  that  I  was  dis- 
posed to  treat  it  lightly.  I  soon  saw,  how- 
ever, the  wonderful,  tragic  meaning  in  the 
picture,  and  I  quite  long  to  see  the  original." 
This  was  too  much.  Sonia  felt  that  if  any- 
thing else  occurred  to  hold  her  up  to  contempt 
in  this  man's  eyes,  she  should  give  up,  and 
burst  into  tears.  Her  courage  was  fast  oozing 
to  the  last  ebb ;  and  with  a  feeling  of  actual 
desperation  she  looked  involuntarily  into  the 
face  of  her  opposite  neighbor,  and  met  his  eyes 
fixed  on  her  with  a  strong  gaze  that  in  an  in- 
stant supported  and  calmed  her.  She  did  not 
quite  read  its  meaning,  but  she  felt  that  there 
was  kindness  for  her  in  it,  and  that  there  was 
no  contempt.     A  look  from  him  had  given  her 


i3o  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

courage  many  a  time  in  the  past,  and  it  was 
availing  now.  She  felt  suddenly  self-possessed 
and  strong ;  but  the  remainder  of  the  meal 
was  a  confused  blur  in  her  memory,  and  she 
was  devoutly  thankful  when  her  maid  came  to 
fetch  her  home. 

Martha  thought  it  a  little  strange  that  her 
brother  did  not  go  down  to  put  their  guest 
into  her  carriage  ;  but  she  reflected  that  he 
was  far  more  familiar  with  the  rules  of  foreign 
society  than  she  was,  and  she  concluded  that 
he  must  be  acting  in  accordance  with  them. 


XII 


Martha  felt  herself  genuinely  surprised, 
puzzled,  and  disappointed  at  the  result  of  the 
meeting  which  she  had  worked  so  hard  to 
bring  about.  Nothing  could  be  more  incon- 
testably  evident  than  that  her  brother  and  her 
friend  had  not  proved  sympathetic  —  did  not 
"hit  it  off."  What  was  the  reason?  How 
could  both  of  them  be  so  perfectly  congenial 
to  her  and  still  uncongenial  to  each  other?  It 
was  a  painful  mystery,  to  which  she  tried  in 
vain  to  find  the  key. 

Next  morning  Sonia  did  not  come  to  the 
atelier  at  her  usual  time,  and  Martha  painted 
on  without  her  in  pronounced  despondency  of 
spirit.  When  she  had  quite  given  the  princess 
up,  she  looked  around,  and,  to  her  delight, 
saw  Sonia  placing  her  easel,  and  preparing  to 
go  to  work,  a  short  distance  off.  She  thought 
her  friend  looked  a  little  pale  and  ill ;  but 
when  she  managed  presently  to  catch  her  eye, 


132  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

she  received  an  affectionate  smile  from  her, 
which  gave  her  a  certain  amount  of  reassur- 
ance. 

When  the  interval  for  lunch  came,  and  they 
went  off  together  to  the  crcmcrie.  Martha 
waited  for  her  friend  to  introduce  the  subject 
so  near  to  her  heart,  and  was  surprised  when 
she  led  the  talk  in  an  entirely  different  direc- 
tion. 

It  had  been  much  the  same  with  Harold 
after  their  guest  had  left  the  evening  before. 
Beyond  a  rather  preoccupied  and  spiritless 
assent  to  all  she  had  to  say  about  the  beauty 
of  the  princess,  he  had  seemed  more  or  less 
indifferent  on  the  subject,  and  had  plunged 
with  zest  into  the  discussion  of  other  things. 
Martha  could  not  altogether  wonder  at  this, 
for  she  had  never  seen  her  adored  friend  ap- 
pear to  so  little  advantage.  Her  brother,  how- 
ever, had  seemed  to  her  charming,  though  not, 
of  course,  at  his  very  best,  and  she  expected 
that  Sonia  would  at  least  say  that  he  was 
handsome  and  agreeable.  When  it  appeared 
that  she  was  going  to  say  nothing  at  all,  Mar- 
tha boldly  took  the  initiative,  and  asked  : 

11  What  do  you  think  of  Harold  ?  " 

"Think  of  him?     Oh,  I   think   he  \s  very 


THE    PRINCESS    SONIA  133 

good-looking,  though  less  like  his  sister  than 
I  could  wish." 

"  Oh,  Sonia,  don't  tease  me  !  If  I  thought 
you  meant  that,  I  should  give  you  up,  both  as 
an  artist  and  a  friend.  But,  really,  did  you  like 
him  or  not  ?  " 

"I  could  hardly  say  'not'  to  that  heartfelt 
appeal,"  said  Sonia,  smiling;  "and,  indeed,  I 
don't  feel  inclined  to.  I  liked  him,  of  course. 
But,  my  dear,  I  told  you  only  the  truth  when 
I  said  I  was  sick  to  death  of  men.  Etienne  is 
the  solitary  exception.  I  like  him  for  the  rea- 
son that  he  did  say  a  decent  word  to  me  this 
morning,  and  I  really  believe  he  thinks  I  am 
beginning  to  daub  with  promise." 

Martha  saw  that  there  was  no  hope,  so  with 
profound  disappointment  she  gave  up,  and  said 
no  more. 

As  for  Sonia  herself,  never  had  she  been  in 
a  state  of  such  abject  self-abasement.  She  had 
donned  her  gorgeous  raiment  and  gone  off  to 
that  dinner  in  exultant  self-confidence,  and  had 
never  doubted  her  ability  to  conform  circum- 
stances to  her  will,  and  to  make  exactly  the  im- 
pression upon  Harold  which  she  desired  him  to 
have.  What,  then,  was  the  secret  of  her  com- 
plete and  humiliating  failure  ?    She  asked  her- 


i34  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

self  this  question,  and  immediately  tried  to  shut 
fast  her  ears  to  the  answer  which  her  heart 
gave.  She  had  confidently  believed,  up  to  this 
hour  of  her  life,  that  her  woman's  pride  was 
strong  enough  for  any  demands  which  she 
could  possibly  make  upon  it ;  but  it  had  failed 
her.  She  had  passed  a  sleepless  night  after 
that  dinner,  and  it  took  tremendous  effort  to 
go  to  her  work  next  morning.  She  did  it  only 
because  she  knew  that  if  she  did  not  the  news 
of  her  absence  would  reach  Harold,  and  she 
could  not  endure  the  thought  of  the  motive  to 
which  he  might  attribute  it.  Perhaps  the  most 
poignant  recollection  which  rankled  in  Sonia's 
mind  was  the  thought  that,  in  her  helpless- 
ness, she  had  made  an  appeal  to  him  by  that 
look  which  he  had  answered  with  such 
strength-giving  kindness.  It  had  enabled  her 
to  get  through  with  the  remaining  time;  but 
now,  as  she  thought  of  it,  she  felt  that  he  had 
taken  it  as  an  appeal  of  weakness  which  he 
had  been  strong  and  merciful  enough  to  re- 
spond to. 

This  thought,  whenever  it  recurred,  made 
her  cheeks  tingle. 

And  what  could  she  do  to  right  herself?  She 
dared  not  make  any  more  self-confident  plans, 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  135 

only  to  have  them  end  in  fresh  humiliation. 
She  now  felt  afraid  of  seeing  Harold,  and  it 
seemed  to  her  that  the  utmost  that  was  in  her 
power  was  to  be  regular  and  faithful  to  her 
work,  in  the  hope  that  the  report  of  such  a 
sensible  course  would  reach  his  ears. 

Martha  made  a  weak  little  effort  to  get  her 
friend  to  come  to  her  again,  but  to  this  she 
received  such  a  faint  response  that  she  let  the 
subject  drop.  All  sorts  of  conjectures  were 
busy  in  her  mind  to  account  for  the  present 
phenomena.  She  even  wondered  if  she  and 
her  brother,  with  their  American  education 
and  ideas,  could  have  done  anything  which 
offered  an  affront  to  the  state  and  dignity  of 
their  princess-guest.  But  this  could  hardly 
be.  Sonia  was  as  friendly  and  affectionate  as 
ever,  though  she  now  seemed  to  wish  to  con- 
fine their  intercourse  to  the  limits  of  the  atelier, 
and  did  not  even  ask  her  to  come  to  her  own 
apartments.  So  Martha  was  free  to  give  up 
all  her  spare  time  to  her  brother,  and  they  had 
numerous  trips  to  the  theater  and  opera ;  but 
somehow  the  solitude  a,  deux  with  her  beloved 
Harold  had  not  the  zest  in  it  which  she  had 
counted  on  beforehand.  He  was  certainly 
changed,  this  brother  of  hers.     He  had  grown 


136  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

more  serious,  and  was  given  to  long  silences. 
She  even  thought  that  it  was  an  effort  to  him 
to  be  so  much  in  her  society,  and  that  he  would 
perhaps  prefer  to  be  alone.  This  was  a  hard 
blow  to  Martha,  but  she  bore  it  without  making 
a  sign,  and  was  glad  of  the  excuse  which  her 
work  gave  her  to  be  much  away  from  him. 
He  also  had  important  business  in  Paris,  and 
often  worked  for  many  hours  at  a  time,  which, 
as  Martha  told  herself,  accounted  for  his  rather 
careworn  expression.  She  even  thought  he 
was  getting  thin,  and  begged  him  not  to  stay 
on  because  of  her,  as  she  would  far  rather 
give  up  her  lessons  and  join  her  mother  than 
be  a  trouble  and  injury  to  him.  This,  how- 
ever, he  would  not  listen  to,  and  he  even 
declared  it  his  intention  to  stay  in  Paris  until 
after  the  opening  of  the  Salon,  now  only  a 
week  or  so  off. 

Day  after  day  went  by,  and  although  Sonia 
and  Martha  were  together  at  least  one  half  of 
their  conscious  time,  they  seemed  to  have  in 
some  way  gone  backward  instead  of  forward 
in  their  intimacy.  They  still  lunched  together 
daily,  and  had  ample  opportunity  for  talk  ;  but 
there  seemed  now  a  dearth  of  topics  such  as 
they  had  never  been  aware  of  before,  and  a 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  137 

sense  of  distance  had  arisen  which  made  it 
hard  for  Martha  to  realize  the  familiarity  and 
nearness  which  had  marked  their  former  inter- 
course. 

One  afternoon,  when  the  work  had  been 
going  more  than  usually  well,  and  the  model 
had  been  more  than  usually  interesting,  Sonia 
and  Martha,  their  easels  side  by  side,  had  lin- 
gered in  the  atelier  after  every  one  else  had 
gone.  It  was  very  agreeable  to  be  able  to 
paint  and  talk  together,  and  the  princess, 
whose  carriage  had  been  announced  some 
time  before,  gladly  agreed  to  wait  with  Mar- 
tha until  hers  should  arrive. 

While  they  were  talking,  a  knock  was 
heard  at  the  door,  and  as  all  rules  were  re- 
laxed at  this  hour,  both  women  called  out, 
"  Entrez  !  " 

The  door  was  opened,  and  around  the  cor- 
ner of  the  old  sail-cloth  screen  the  tall  figure 
of  Harold  appeared.  The  day  was  raw  and 
chilly,  and  he  wore  a  fur-lined  coat  with  its 
large  fur  collar  drawn  close  around  his  throat, 
and  carried  his  high  hat  and  his  stick  in  his 
hand. 

At  sight  of  him  Martha  uttered  a  little  ex- 
clamation of  pleasure,  and  gaily  called  to  him 


138  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

to  come  on.  Sonia,  in  spite  of  the  jerk  at  her 
heart-strings  and  the  rush  of  blood  through  all 
her  veins,  felt,  taken  unprepared  as  she  was, 
a  sudden  sense  of  strength  and  self-possession. 
Her  color  deepened,  and  by  a  swift  motion 
she  drew  herself  erect;  and  as  she  stood  there 
in  her  old  green  skirt  and  red  silk  blouse,  she 
looked  so  workman-like  and  charming  that,  as 
Martha  drew  her  brother  forward  toward  their 
easels,  her  heart  quite  glowed  with  pride  in 
both  her  dear  companions.  She  always 
adored  Harold  in  that  coat,  and  Sonia  in  that 
dress,  and  her  sensitive  organism  seemed  to 
be  receiving  impressions  of  pleasure  from 
the  minds  of  each.  Harold  stood  still,  a 
little  distance  off,  and  bowed,  with  a  look 
that  expressed  some  hesitation  or  uncer- 
tainty. Looking  past  his  sister  and  at  her 
friend,   he  said : 

"  Do  you  permit  me  to  look  at  your  work?" 
"  Oh,  if  you  care  to,"  said  Sonia  in  a  light 
and  natural  tone.  "  It  's  a  mere  daub  of  a 
study.  One  goes  through  a  great  deal  of  dis- 
couragement in  a  place  like  this,  and  a  great 
deal  of  one's  time  is  spent  in  acquiring  a 
knowledge  of  one's  ignorance.  After  that  is 
quite  mastered,  things  get  easier.      I  think  I 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  139 

may  say  that  I  have  graduated  in  that  branch 
of  study,  and  am  now  ready  to  go  on  to  the 
more  advanced  ones." 

Harold  stood  still,  and  looked  at  her  pic- 
ture. She  was  thinking  how  natural  it  would 
be  to  ask  him  if  he  thought  she  had  improved. 
He  was  thinking  how  natural  it  would  be  to 
tell  her  that  she  had.  Martha  was  thinking 
how  beautiful  and  full  of  charm  they  both 
were,  and  almost  wishing  that  the  atelier 
could  be  filled  with  students  to  look  at  such 
models. 

It  occurred  to  her  now  that  Harold  re- 
mained silent  unnecessarily  long,  and  she  was 
afraid  that  he  did  not  appreciate  her  friend's 
work ;  so  she  herself  began  to  speak  in  volu- 
ble praise  of  it. 

Sonia  felt  a  strong  impulse  to  check  her, 
and  to  explain  to  her  that  he  was  always 
silent  when  he  really  liked  a  thing  exceed- 
ingly, and  that  she  therefore  felt  delighted 
that  he  said  nothing. 

Harold,  however,  forced  himself  to  utter  a 
few  words  of  praise  that  sounded  very  stiff  and 
conventional,  and  a  sort  of  bewildered  look, 
which  Martha  could  not  understand,  came  into 
his  eyes.     Sonia  understood  it  by  its  reflec- 


i4o  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

tion  in  her  own  heart.  She  felt  as  if  she  were 
in  some  strange,  confusing  dream,  where  the 
conditions  around  her  were  sad  and  con- 
strained, and  yet  which  she  felt  she  must  hold 
on  to  and  keep  conscious  of,  lest  they  should 
vanish  and  leave  her  utterly  empty-hearted, 
estranged,  and  desolate.  While  Martha  ex- 
hibited her  own  work,  and  proceeded  to  pick 
it  to  pieces  in  imitation  of  what  Etienne  would 
say  to-morrow,  the  man  and  woman  standing 
behind  her,  so  near  that  they  almost  touched, 
were  feeling,  from  this  proximity,  a  force  that 
went  to  the  very  deeps  of  both  their  natures. 
Hardness,  resentment,  wounded  pride,  regret 
—  all  these  were  parts  of  this  force  in  each  ; 
but  there  was  in  it,  too,  something  stronger 
than  any  of  them,  something  that  warned 
Sonia  that  she  had  better  not  trust  herself,  at 
the  same  moment  that  Harold  turned  abruptly 
away,  and  said  that  he  had  an  engagement, 
and  could  not  wait  longer.  He  explained  in 
a  hurried,  confused  speech,  out  of  which  it 
was  hard  to  get  any  intelligent  meaning,  that 
he  had  forgotten  Martha's  need  of  the  car- 
riage,  and  had  kept  it  waiting  somewhere  for 
him,  which  was  his  excuse  for  coming  to  the 
atelier  to  see  if  she  had  waited  or  was  gone. 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  141 

Martha  saw  by  his  manner  that  something 
was  wrong,  and  made  haste  to  put  up  her 
brushes,  and  follow  him  into  the  cloak-room, 
insisting  that  Sonia  should  come  also,  as  she 
objected  to  leaving  her  there  alone. 

Sonia  obediently  did  as  she  was  told,  but 
she  felt  as  if  she  were  stumbling  along  half 
blindly,  and  had  not  the  will-power  to  object 
or  protest. 

She  put  on  her  hat,  and  was  reaching  for 
her  heavy  cloak,  when  a  strong,  brown  hand, 
specked  with  two  small  dark  moles  just  below 
the  thumb,  took  it  down  from  the  peg,  and 
folded  it  around  her. 

As  she  reached  to  draw  to  the  collar,  her 
hand  touched  his.  If  the  sight  of  that  hand 
had  been  familiar  to  her,  what  was  its  touch? 
She  felt  herself  trembling,  and  her  quick 
breaths  almost  suffocated  her.  She  had  just 
power  to  control  herself  until  she  was  in  her 
carriage,  and  alone.  Then,  falling  back  upon 
the  cushions,  her  eyes  closed,  and  she  passed 
into  a  state  of  semi-consciousness. 

She  did  not  really  faint,  for  she  was  all  the 
time  aware  that  the  necessity  for  self-control 
was  for  the  moment  gone,  and  that  she  could 
rest,  and  cease  to  fight. 


142  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

Long  before  the  carriage  stopped  at  her 
own  door  she  had  recovered,  and  realized  it 
all.  She  knew  that,  miserable  as  the  last  two 
years  had  been,  she  had  gradually  been  gain- 
ing strength,  and  recovering  her  power  for  the 
struggle  of  life.  She  might  have  gone  on, 
and  met  the  future  bravely,  if  she  had  never 
seen  this  man  again.  Not  now,  however  — 
not  after  she  had  heard  his  voice,  and  met  his 
eyes,  and  touched  his  hand.  This  encounter 
had  deprived  her  of  her  strength  so  absolutely 
that  she  longed  only  for  the  safety  to  be  found 
in  flight. 

But  how  would  that  sudden  flight  appear  to 
him  ?     That  was  the  question. 


XIII 

Sonia  found  herself,  after  that  meeting,  in 
a  state  of  helpless  irresolution.  She  could 
take  no  action.  She  could  not  even  make 
plans.  She  could  only  drift.  There  was  only 
one  solace  — work ;  and  she  was  now  gen- 
erally the  last  person  at  the  atelier,  staying 
there  until  the  light  failed.  She  had  got 
over  all  her  timidity  about  being  there  after 
the  others.  The  old  concierge  was  apt  to  put 
her  head  in  now  and  then,  to  nod  to  her,  and 
give  her  a  sense  of  protection  ;  and  sometimes 
she  would  come  in  and  chat  with  her,  while 
she  was  doing  such  sketchy  sort  of  tidying 
up  as  an  atelier  admits  of. 

A  few  days  had  gone  by  without  her  having 
seen  or  heard  of  Harold.  Martha  seemed  to 
divine  that  the  princess  wanted  to  talk  only 
of  her  work  and  her  atelier  interests,  and  had 
tacitly  adapted  herself  to  her  friend.  They  of- 
ten worked  together  now,  after  regular  hours, 

143 


144  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

but  Martha  generally  found  it  necessary  to  go 
before  her  friend  was  ready. 

One  afternoon  Martha  had  left  rather  earlier 
than  usual,  in  order  to  keep  an  appointment 
with  her  brother,  and  Sonia  was  at  work  all 
alone,  save  for  the  companionship  of  her  little 
terrier  Inkling — a  tiny,  jet-black  creature  that 
wore  a  collar  of  little  silver  bells,  which,  Sonia 
had  amused  Martha  by  saying,  had  caused 
some  one  to  give  him  the  name  of  "Tinkling 
Inkling."  She  did  not  often  bring  her  pet  to 
the  atelier,  for  fear  he  might  be  troublesome. 
This  afternoon,  however,  she  knew  that  Etienne 
would  not  be  there  ;  and  when  the  little  fel- 
low, palpitating  with  eagerness,  had  looked 
at  her  beseechingly  from  the  seat  of  the  car- 
riage where  she  had  just  shut  him  in,  she  had 
suddenly  snapped  her  fingers  and  twisted  her 
lips  into  a  sound  of  encouragement,  and  he 
had  leaped  out  of  the  carriage  window,  and 
followed  her  with  an  air  of  perfect  understand- 
ing that  this  unusual  privilege  made  a  demand 
on  him  to  be  on  his  best  behavior. 

He  had  been  propriety  itself  all  the  after- 
noon, and  Sonia  had  seen  and  appreciated  his 
heroic  self-control  in  not  barking  at  the  model, 
whom  he  had  looked  at  with  inveterate  disap- 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  145 

proval,  only  expressed  by  one  little  whispered 
growl.  The  class  of  society  to  which  the  mod- 
el belonged  were  Inkling's  natural  enemies; 
and  whether,  in  spite  of  nudeness,  he  recog- 
nized this  man  as  a  member  of  that  class,  or 
whether  the  nudeness  itself  outraged  his  sense 
of  propriety,  certain  it  was  that,  during  all  the 
hours  in  which  his  mistress  was  painting,  Ink- 
ling lay  at  her  feet,  with  his  eyes  fixed  unwink- 
ingly  upon  his  enemy,  ready  to  take  advantage 
of  the  first  excuse  to  fly  at  him. 

No  such  occasion  had  arisen,  however ;  and 
now  the  model  was  gone,  and  Inkling,  off  duty 
at  last,  was  enjoying  the  reaction  of  a  sound 
nap  at  his  mistress's  feet. 

The  room  was  so  profoundly  still  that  Sonia 
was  startled  by  a  rap  at  the  door,  gently  though 
it  was  given.  Even  Inkling  did  not  wake  at 
it.  She  looked  up  from  her  easel,  expecting 
to  see  her  footman  come  to  announce  the  car- 
riage, or  some  workman  delivering  supplies 
for  the  atelier,  and  saw,  instead,  Harold  Keene 
standing  only  a  few  feet  from  her.  She  knew 
that  the  swing-door  had  closed  behind  him, 
and  that  they  were  alone  together.  Her  heart 
shook,  and  for  a  moment  she  could  not  speak. 
He  came  forward  a  little,  and  said  in  French  : 


146  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,  princess.  I  came  for 
my  sister  to  fill  an  engagement.  Is  she  not 
here?" 

"  She  has  just  gone,"  answered  Sonia,  also 
in  French.  "  She  expected  to  meet  you  at 
the  apartment." 

"  I  have  just  been  there.  Not  finding  her, 
I  came  on  here.  I  suppose  I  passed  her  on 
the  way." 

Inkling  had  opened  his  eyes  at  the  sound 
of  voices,  but,  seeing  that  the  model-throne 
was  empty  and  his  enemy  gone,  he  had  not 
troubled  himself  further.  As  Harold  ceased 
speaking,  a  look  of  sudden  interest  came  over 
the  dog,  and  he  got  up,  his  little  bells  a-tinkle, 
and  trotted  across  to  where  Harold  stood. 

No  sooner  had  he  looked  at  him  than  he 
uttered  a  gruff  bark  of  surprise,  and  no  sooner 
had  he  snuffed  once  at  the  legs  of  his  trousers 
than  he  grew  frantic  with  excitement.  He 
barked  and  yelped,  and  jumped  up  on  him 
with  such  evidences  of  wild  delight  that  no 
man  with  a  kind  heart  in  his  bosom  could 
have  refused  some  recognition  of  such  a  wel- 
come. 

1  Iarold  stooped  and  patted  him,  speaking 
to  him  in  English. 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  147 

Somehow,  to  have  him  treat  a  dog  like  that, 
and  to  address  her  in  cold  formality,  in  a  for- 
eign language,  by  a  pompous  title  which  did 
not  belong  to  her,  seemed  to  Sonia  wilfully 
cruel. 

Inkling,  still  frantic  with  delight,  left  Har- 
old, and  rushed  over  to  her,  yelping  and  bark- 
ing, and  shaking  his  tail  violently,  looking  up 
in  her  face  with  eloquent  insistency.  Then  he 
ran  back  to  Harold,  and  a^ain  back  to  her, 
with  fluttering  agitation. 

Soma's  spirit  did  not  falter,  however,  and 
her  voice  was  firm  and  steady  as  she  said  in 
English : 

"Why  do  you  speak  to  Inkling  in  English, 
and  to  me  in  French  ?  " 

"  Because  Inkling  and  I  are  old  friends,  who 
have  a  common  language,  while  the  Princess 
Mannernorff  is  a  stranger  and  a  foreigner." 

"  It  seems  very  childish  to  keep  up  that 
farce." 

"  I  thought  it  was  your  wish." 

"  And  you  despise  me,  probably,  for  the  de- 
ception I  have  practised  in  passing  myself  off 
for  the  Princess  Mannernorff !  I  did  not  do  it 
deliberately,"  she  said,  with  an  almost  child- 
like air  of  contrition  and  confession.      "  It  has 


i48  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

hurt  me  all  along  to  be  deceiving  Martha ;  but 
some  one  told  her  1  was  a  Russian  princess, 
and  as  my  mother  had  been  one  before  her 
marriage,  and  my  aunt,  with  whom  I  live,  is 
the  Princess  MannernorfT,  I  let  the  false  im- 
pression remain,  and  even  took  advantage  of 
it.  It  was  wrong,  I  know ;  but  I  did  want  to 
hold  on  to  Martha's  friendship  a  little  longer. 
However,"  she  said,  her  face  and  voice  harden- 
ing, "  it  is  simply  a  question  of  time  ;  and  a  few 
weeks  sooner  or  later,  what  does  it  matter?" 

"  Why  is  it  a  question  of  time  ?  "  said  Har- 
old. "  Why  should  you  not  keep  that  friend- 
ship always,  if  you  care  for  it  ?  Martha  shall 
know  nothing  from  me." 

There  was  a  moment's  silence.  Then  Sonia 
said : 

"  I  thought  it  possible  that  you  might  dis- 
approve of  our  friendship." 

"Why  should  I  ?  It  is  a  thing  absolutely 
between   Martha  and  yourself." 

"  She  would  cast  me  off  immediately  if  she 
knew  the  truth,  and  any  moment  an  accident 
may  reveal  it  to  her." 

"  Such  an  accident  is  most  unlikely.  It 
could,  as  things  are  now,  come  about  only 
through  me,  and  I  shall  be  on  my  guard." 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  149 

How  confident  and  strong  he  was  !  It  roused 
all  the  pride  in  her.  The  sense  of  weakness 
which  had  overcome  her  at  their  last  meeting, 
and  which  for  a  moment  had  threatened  her  in 
this  one,  was  utterly  gone. 

"  Besides,"  went  on  Harold,  quickly,  "  I  be- 
lieve you  are  wholly  wrong  in  thinking  that 
she  would  give  you  up  if,  by  chance,  she 
should  discover  what  you  have  so  carefully 
guarded  from  her.  I  see  no  reason  why  she 
should." 

He  had  spoken  in  English,  since  she  had 
criticized  his  using  French,  and  Inkling  seemed 
at  least  partly  satisfied,  as  he  stood  midway 
between  the  two,  with  his  front  legs  wide 
apart,  as  if  to  keep  his  body  firm,  while  his 
tail  wriggled  wildly,  and  his  head  turned  from 
one  to  the  other  with  a  quickness  which  was 
enough  to  make  him  dizzy.  He  was  alertly 
aware  of  them,  but  they  had  both  forgotten 
him,  in  the  keen  absorption  in  each  other 
which  underlay  their  outward  composure. 

"  Have  you,  then,  told  her  nothing?"  said 
Sonia,  in  answer  to  his  last  words. 

"  Only  the  simple  fact." 

"What  fact?"  she  said,  looking  him  in  the 
face  with  a  certain  hardness  and  defiance. 


150  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

"  That  the  woman  whom  I  had  loved  no 
longer  loved  me  ;  that  she  had  repudiated  my 
name  and  every  connection  with  me,  and  had 
asked  for  a  divorce,  which  I  was  taking  all 
possible  steps  to  give  her  as  soon  as  it  could 
be  done." 

"  And  do  you  think  that  Martha,  feeling  as 
she  does,  would  continue  the  acquaintance  of 
a  woman  who  had  cast  off  her  brother  with 
no  stronger  reason  than  that  ? " 

"It  was  sufficient  for  me.  There  could  not 
be  a  stronger  reason  for  divorce  than  absence 
of  love  on  either  side." 

"The  world  does  not  agree  with  you,"  she 
said. 

"  Yet  I  fancy  Martha  would.  If  it  came  to 
remarriage  on  either  side,  her  verdict  would 
perhaps  be  condemnation ;  but  I  think  she 
would  consider  separation  a  higher  thing  than 
a  loveless  marriage." 

Somehow,  there  was  a  spirit  in  these  words 
that  touched  her  heart.  Her  voice,  for  the 
first  time,  was  a  little  unsteady  as  she  said : 

"You  do  believe  that,  at  least!  You  do 
feel  that  I  could  never  think  of  another  mar- 
riage !  " 

"  I  have  always  felt  it.      Indeed,  I  may  say 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  151 

I  have  known  it.  I  know  that  you  see  the  in- 
evitableness  of  all  this  as  clearly  as  I  do.  I 
have  often  wished,  for  your  sake,  that  I  had 
never  seen  you,  to  put  this  blight  upon  your 
life." 

"  And  have  not  I  also  blighted  yours  ?  Do 
you  suppose  that  I  never  think  of  that  ?  " 

"  It  need  not  trouble  you,  if  you  do.  In  my 
case  there  was  a  compensation,  and  a  sufficient 
one.      In  your  case  there  is  none." 

She  knew  what  he  meant ;  that  his  love  for 
her,  and  that  happy  month  of  marriage,  had 
been  enough  to  pay  him  for  having  afterward 
lost  her ;  and  she  knew  that  he  held  the  fact 
that  she  had  never  really  loved  him  to  have 
barred  her  from  any  compensation  at  all. 
Why  did  she  so  resent  his  assuming  this  ? 
Had  she  not  told  him,  in  language  of  such 
emphatic  decision  that  it  rang  even  now  in 
her  ears,  that  she  had  found  out  that  she  had 
made  a  great  mistake,  and  that  she  had  never 
loved  him  ?  He  had  simply  taken  her  at  her 
word. 

She  wilfully  ignored  the  true  meaning  of 
his  last  words,  as  she  went  on  : 

"It  is  a  mistake  to  think  that  my  life  has 
no  compensations.      My  work,  whether  it  ever 


152  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

amounts  to  anything  or  not,  is  a  great  com- 
pensation. The  friendship  of  Martha  is  an- 
other. You  are  very  good  to  wish  not  to  take 
that  from  me  ;  but  the  present  sham  condi- 
tions cannot  be  kept  up  after  we  separate. 
Fortune  has  favored  us  almost  miraculously 
as  it  is.  She  heard  that  there  was  a  Russian 
princess  studying  here,  and  some  one  mis- 
takenly pointed  me  out  for  her.  I  had  already 
seen  her  name  on  her  canvases,  and  knowing 
that  your  mother  and  sisters  were  in  Paris,  of 
course  I  knew  exactly  who  she  was.  Inde- 
pendent of  this,  her  face  and  manner  had 
strongly  attracted  me,  so  I  saw  no  reason  why 
we  might  not  be  friends,  provided  I  could  keep 
from  her  who  I  was.  As  soon  as  I  saw  that 
she  believed  me  to  be  the  princess,  the  fact 
that  my  aunt  was  a  Russian  and  had  Russian 
servants  opened  the  way  to  my  carrying  on 
the  idea  ;  and  so  far  there  has  been  no  trouble. 
My  little  Russian  name  for  Sophia  helped  me, 
too.  If  she  had  known  me  as  Sophia  or  So- 
phie, she  would  probably  have  recoiled  from 
me,  even  if  she  had  had  no  suspicion  as  to  my 
identity." 

"  I  beg  you  not  to  have  that  thought,"  said 
I  larold.      "If  the  time  ever  comes  when  the 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  153 

truth  must  be  declared  to  Martha,  let  me  be 
the  one  to  tell  her ;  and  I  promise  you  there 
shall  be  no  recoil  —  no  lessening  of  her  friend- 
ship for  you." 

"Thank  you,"  said  Sonia,  coldly.  "You 
were  always  a  generous  man." 

Her  tone  smote  discordantly  upon  Harold. 
It  seemed  a  sort  of  compulsory  tribute  to  him, 
which  he  had  no  fancy  for  from  her. 

"  I  am  thinking  of  Martha,  too,"  he  said. 
"  She  is  very  lonely  in  her  life,  and  rarely  goes 
out  to  any  one,  in  spite  of  her  ardent  nature. 
This  friendship  with  you  is  very  valuable  to 
her,  and  I  am  anxious  that  nothing  shall  dis- 
turb it." 

"Thank  you  for  correcting  me,"  returned 
the  other,  quickly;  "though  I  did  not  really 
suppose  that  it  was  for  my  sake  that  you  were 
willing  to  take  so  much  trouble." 

She  knew  that  this  speech  was  silly,  petu- 
lant, and  unworthy  of  her,  but  she  wished  him 
to  understand  that  she  asked  and  expected 
nothing  of  him.  He  could  not  be  so  cool  and 
steady  during  this  interview  unless  he  had 
ceased  to  care  for  her.  She  quite  realized  that 
he  had,  and  she  wished  him  to  know  that  she 
accepted  it  as  a  matter  of  course. 


154  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

Inkling,  meantime,  had  grown  very  uneasy. 
He  felt  that  things  were  not  going  well,  and 
he  now  began  to  show  symptoms  of  distress, 
instead  of  the  wild  delight  of  the  moment  be- 
fore. He  ran  whimpering  from  one  to  the 
other ;  and  when  they  took  no  notice  of  him, 
he  sprang  upon  the  lap  of  his  mistress,  and, 
uttering  the  most  expressive  plaints  and  be- 
seechings,  tried  to  lick  her  face.  Sonia,  in  a 
fit  of  irritation  very  characteristic  of  her,  gave 
him  a  hard  little  slap,  which  sent  him  out  of 
her  lap,  whining,  and  running  to  Harold  for 
pity.  He  was  not  really  hurt ;  and  she  felt 
cross  with  the  clever  little  brute  for  posing  as 
a  victim  so  successfully. 

"  Don't  touch  him  !  "  she  cried  imperatively 
to  Harold.  "  He  's  only  pretending  to  get 
your  pity.  You  sha'n't  pat  him  or  speak  to 
him.      If  you  do,  I  '11  be  very  angry." 

The  effect  which  these  words  had  upon  Har- 
old would  have  surprised  her,  could  she  have 
known  it.  They  were  so  like  her,  so  abso- 
lutely herself,  that  they  brought  back  the  past 
with  a  rush  ;  and  it  seemed  such  a  hollow  pre- 
tense to  suppose  that  they  were  separated, 
and  compelled  to  be  as  strangers  to  each  other, 
that  he  came  nearer  to  losing  his  head  than  he 
had  done  yet 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  155 

Ignoring  Inkling's  fawnings  and  plaints,  he 
said  suddenly : 

"  I  am  forgetting  that  Martha  is  waiting  for 
me  "  ;  and  then,  changing  his  tone,  and  speak- 
ing in  French,  he  added : 

"  May  I  take  you  to  your  carriage,  prin- 
cess  r 

She  answered  him  in  French,  as  prompt  and 
easy  as  himself.  She  thanked  him  for  his  of- 
fer, but  declined  it,  saying  that  her  servant 
would  let  her  know  when  her  carriage  arrived. 
She  added  that  she  was  not  ready  to  leave  the 
atelier  yet,  as  she  had  lost  time,  which  she 
must  now  make  up. 

He  bowed  in  silence,  turned,  and  walked 
away.  Inkling  made  a  weak  effort  to  follow 
him,  but  was  scared  into  a  sudden  and  humili- 
ated return  by  the  imperious  command  of  his 
mistress.  The  little  creature  looked  so  ridicu- 
lously distressed,  as  he  sat  on  his  haunches 
near  her,  with  his  ears  dropped  and  his  tail 
nerveless  and  still  beneath  him,  that  Sonia's 
irritation  deepened  as  she  put  up  her  brushes 
and  paints ;  and  when  she  had  washed  her 
hands  and  was  emptying  the  basin,  she  yielded 
to  a  sudden  impulse  and  dashed  half  the  mea- 
ger supply  of  water  over  him. 


156  THE   PRINCESS    SOMA 

"There,  you  little  idiot!  "  she  said  crossly. 
"That  's  for  your  ridiculous  nonsense  in  try- 
ing to  make  out  that  I  care  one  pin  for  him, 
or  anything  about  him.  I  '11  very  soon  con- 
vince him  that  I  don't;  and  if  ever  you  dare 
to  act  in  such  a  way  again,  I  '11  sell  you  to  the 
concierge  on  the  spot !  " 

Inkling  gave  every  indication  of  a  complete 
understanding  of  this  threat,  which  had  the  ef- 
fect of  brinorimr  him  at  once  to  a  state  of  cowed 
dejection. 


XIV 

Sonia  said  nothing  to  Martha  of  that  meet- 
ing and  conversation  at  the  atelier ;  and  as 
Martha  made  no  reference  to  it,  she  under- 
stood that  Harold  also  had  been  silent  on  the 
subject. 

A  few  days  went  by,  which  were  fraught 
with  agitation  to  the  pupils  at  Etienne's,  as 
they  were  the  last  days  of  April,  and  two  or 
three  of  the  atelier  students  were  to  exhibit  in 
the  Salon.  Sonia's  picture  had  been  entered 
under  a  fictitious  name,  rather  against  her 
master's  wishes ;  but  he  had  found  it  impos- 
sible to  move  her  on  this  point.  She  had  made 
both  Etienne  and  Martha  promise  her  most 
solemnly  to  tell  no  one  which  was  her  picture  ; 
and  so  she  looked  forward  to  the  great  exhi- 
bition with  a  pleasure  which  had  no  disturbing 
element  in  it. 

This  pleasure  had,  however,  grown  paler 
recently,  as  her  hold  on  all  outward  things, 

157 


158  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

slight  as  she  had  thought  it  before,  had  grown 
weaker.  She  had  felt  a  real  emotion  when 
told  that  her  picture  had  been  admitted  by  the 
jury,  and  an  intense  anxiety  as  to  how  it  would 
be  hung.  In  contrast  to  this  was  the  languid 
interest  which  she  experienced  when  she  found 
that  it  was  on  the  line. 

Martha  and  she  had  gone  to  the  Vernissagc 
on  the  thirtieth  of  April,  and  had  stood  before 
the  picture  together ;  but  it  was  Martha  who 
had  flushed  and  fluttered  with  delight  at  the 
remarks  upon  it  which  they  had  overheard. 
Sonia  herself  seemed  to  have  lost  interest 
in  it. 

On  the  morning  of  the  Vcmissage  Harold 
had  gone  to  London,  to  be  absent  until  the 
next  day,  when  he  was  to  take  Martha  to  the 
formal  opening  of  the  Salon. 

There  was,  therefore,  no  reason  why  Sonia 
should  not  accept  her  friend's  invitation  to  dine 
and  spend  the  evening.  When  she  saw  what 
pleasure  her  acceptance  gave  the  girl,  her 
heart  suddenly  smote  her  with  the  reflection 
that  she  did  very  little  to  reward  such  ardent 
love,  and  she  impetuously  offered  to  spend  the 
night  also,  saying  that  she  had  not  done  such 
a  thing  since  her  school-days. 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  159 

Martha  was  overjoyed  ;  and  when  Sonia 
duly  arrived,  prepared  to  spend  the  night,  the 
two  women  made  a  great  effort  to  get  the 
amount  of  enjoyment  which  they  felt  ought  to 
be  foreach  iniheir  tete-d-tete  dinner  andevenine 
together.  Their  talk,  however,  seemed  rather 
desultory  and  unproductive,  and  both  of  them 
felt  that  their  endeavors  to  return  to  their  for- 
mer attitude  of  free  and  natural  mutual  confi- 
dence were  strangely  unavailing. 

After  a  rather  dull  discussion  of  Paris  apart- 
ment-houses, and  their  advantages  and  disad- 
vantages,  Martha  proposed  to  show  her  guest 
over  this  one  ;  and  Sonia  went  with  her  into 
all  the  rooms,  with  a  civil  effort  to  seem  inter- 
ested, until  she  came  to  one  on  the  threshold 
of  which  Martha  said  : 

"This  is  the  girls'  room,  which  Harold  has 
now.  It  is  just  next  to  mama's,  which  is  the 
one  you  have.  The  governess  has  a  room  on 
the  other  side  of  the  salon,  in  order  to  protect 
me.  They  tell  such  frightful  stories  about  the 
crimes  and  murders  in  these  Paris  apartments 
that  I  used  to  be  quite  timid,  though  I  've  got 
over  it  now." 

Sonia,  while  she  appeared  to  be  listening 
to  her  companion,  was  in  reality  so  inwardly 


160  THE    PRINCESS    SOMA 

shaken  by  certain  influences  received  in  this 
room  that  she  felt  as  if  her  mind  were  stagger- 
ing. ( )n  the  dressing-table  just  in  front  of  her 
were  several  toilet  articles  in  old  German  sil- 
ver which  it  seemed  to  her  that  she  had  seen 
and  touched  but  yesterday.  A  clothes-brush 
with  fantastic  decorations  of  women's  figures, 
entwined  with  fish  and  garlands  of  roses,  had 
a  large  dent  in  it,  of  which  she  knew  the  whole 
history.  She  could  even  have  told  why  one 
of  the  three  bottles  in  the  leather-case  was 
without  a  stopper,  and  what  had  become  of 
the  smallest  pair  of  scissors,  the  place  of  which 
in  the  dressing-case  was  empty.  On  a  table 
near  by  was  a  leather  portfolio  with  the  letters 
"  H.  R.  K."  on  one  corner  in  a  silver  mono- 
gram. 

While  Martha  moved  about  the  room  and 
talked,  Sonia's  eyes  searched  eagerly  among 
the  familiar  objects  for  certain  others  which 
she  would  have  given  the  world  to  see.  Her 
search  was  in  vain,  however.  There  was  not 
one  thing  of  his  own  in  sight  which  had  not 
been  a  possession  of  his  bachelor  days.  This 
was  quite  evident,  and  of  course  was  entirely 
as  it  should  be. 

When  they  returned  to  the  salon,  Martha, 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  161 

observing  that  her  friend  looked  tired,  pro- 
posed that  they  should  go  to  bed  early — an 
idea  received  with  evident  favor.  They  were 
quite  safe  in  the  protection  of  the  man-servant, 
who  had  been  brought  with  the  family  from 
America.  Harold  had  given  him  orders  to 
sleep  for  the  night  in  the  antechamber,  and 
Martha  had  one  of  the  maids  in  the  room  back 
of  hers.  When  she  asked  her  guest  if  she  felt 
at  all  timid,  and  saw  the  smile  of  amused  de- 
nial that  answered  her,  she  went  with  her  to 
her  room,  lingered  a  few  moments  to  see  that 
all  was  comfortable  about  her,  then  kissed  and 
embraced  her  friend,  and  said  good  night. 

Left  alone,  Sonia  stood  an  instant  silent  in 
her  place ;  then,  with  movements  of  swift  de- 
cision, she  locked  the  door  by  which  Martha 
had  gone  out,  and,  crossing  the  room  to  an- 
other door,  softly  turned  the  handle.  She  had 
her  bedroom  candle  in  her  hand,  and  as  the 
door  yielded  and  opened,  she  passed  into  the 
room  beyond  it,  and  stood  still  once  more,  as 
if  possessed  by  that  presence  from  out  the 
past. 

The  lights  in  this  room  had  been  put  out, 
and  all  the  doors  and  windows  closed.  She 
knew  that  she  was  safe  in  her  solitude,  and 


162  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

need  no  longer  struggle  with  the  feelings 
which  crowded  her  heart. 

She  went  to  the  dressing-table,  and  took  up 
the  old  clothes-brush,  and  put  her  lips  to  the 
dent  which  she  herself  had  made  there  once,  by 
using  the  brush  as  a  hammer.  Then  silently 
dashing  away  the  heavy  tears  that  rolled  from 
her  eyes,  she  looked  closely  at  the  grotesque 
figures  of  women  and  fish,  and  recalled  such 
amusing  things  which  had  been  said  about 
them  that  she  began  to  laugh,  even  while  more 
tears  were  gathering,  and  straining  her  throat 
with  pain.  The  nervous  little  laugh  died  away 
as  she  pressed  the  brush  again  to  her  lips. 
Then  she  lifted,  one  by  one,  all  the  familiar 
objects  that  lay  before  her,  and  looked  at 
them,  while  her  tears  fell  like  rain. 

Presently  she  took  up  the  portfolio  from  the 
table  near  by,  and  turned  over  the  thick  sheets 
of  blotting-paper  within.  She  could  see  plainly 
the  inverted  and  almost  illegible,  but  charac- 
teristic, impression  of  a  woman's  writing.  In 
some  places  this  was  lost  in  very  different 
characters,  but  in  others  it  was  distinctly  rec- 
ognizable. She  walked  to  the  dressing-table 
with  it,  and  "held  it  before  the  mirror,  and  read 
distinctly  in  one  place  the  words,  "  Yours  al- 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  163 

ways,  Sophie,"  and  in  another,  "Yours  faith- 
fully, Sophia  Keene."  Her  heart  trembled. 
She  had  no  idea  to  whom  she  had  so  signed 
herself,  but  she  wondered  passionately  if  Har- 
old had  ever  tried  this  experiment,  and  seen 
those  signatures  from  the  faithless  woman  who 
had  been  his  wife. 

Suddenly  she  put  the  book  back  on  the  ta- 
ble, and  fell  on  her  knees  before  it,  laying  her 
face  upon  its  pages,  and  sobbing  upon  them 
until  they  were  saturated  with  her  tears ;  for, 
underneath  her  own  handwriting,  she  had 
seen,  reflected  in  the  glass,  writing  which 
seemed  almost  as  familiar,  in  which  she  had 
deciphered  the  words,  "  Your  loving  hus- 
band." 

She  had  destroyed  every  word  of  that  hand- 
writing which  she  had  ever  possessed,  and 
thousands  of  times  her  heart  had  hungered  to 
see  it  in  these  very  words.  It  was  upon  this 
spot  that  her  lips  were  laid  now,  while  they 
whispered  out,  in  inarticulate  sobs  and  gasps, 
words  of  heartbroken  pain. 

She  had  told  him  that  she  did  not  love  him, 
and  had  demanded  a  divorce  from  him.  She 
must  never  contradict  those  words,  or  try  to 
undo  that  act.     She  knew  that  she  was  weak, 


1 64  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

but  she  knew  that  she  had  courage  enough  to 
stand  to  this  resolution.  He  should  never 
know  how,  slowly  at  first,  and  afterward  with 
increasing  force  and  swiftness,  the  knowledge 
of  her  mistake  had  come  to  her.  For  a  while 
she  had  fought  it  off  with  furious  denial.  She 
had  argued  and  talked  with  herself,  and  re- 
called past  feelings  of  resentment,  anger,  and 
desperate  antagonism,  to  prove  to  herself  that 
she  had  been  right  in  vowing  that  she  did  not 
love  him;  but  in  the  end  nothing  had  availed. 
Long  before  their  paths  had  met  again  she 
had  known  that  she  was  wrong ;  that  she  had 
made  a  hideous  mistake  of  her  life ;  and  that, 
with  all  the  force,  fire,  energy,  and  passion  of 
her  heart,  she  loved  the  man  whom  she  had 
repudiated.  But,  even  with  this  knowledge, 
she  might  have  borne  it,  she  mi^ht  have  lived 
and  died  without  making  a  sign,  if  only  she 
had  not  seen  him  again  ! 

Now,  however,  that  she  had  seen  him,  heard 
him,  felt  the  atmosphere  of  his  presence  about 
her,  felt  his  thoughts  of  her  surrounding  her, 
and  felt  through  all  her  pulses  his  touch  upon 
her  hand,  what  was  she  to  do?  How  was  she 
to  stumble  on,  and  pretend  to  fight,  when  a 
mere  look  from  his  eyes  made  her  sword-arm 
nerveless  ? 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  165 

Oh,  she  must  give  way  this  once,  she  felt, 
and  shed  a  few  of  those  millions  of  pent-up 
tears !  Now  that  she  was  here  in  the  very 
room  that  he  had  slept  in  yesterday,  and  would 
come  back  to  to-morrow,  she  must  let  the 
spirit  of  love  and  grief  within  her  have  its  way. 
Perhaps  some  remnant  of  it  might  linger 
after  she  was  gone,  and  speak  to  his  heart 
from  hers. 

As  her  mind  formed  this  idea,  she  sprang 
to  her  feet.  Was  she  losing  control  of  herself  ? 
Was  her  mind  weakening  or  deserting  her  ? 
How  had  she  so  forgotten  herself  as  to  have 
this  thought,  which  was  in  its  nature  a  wish  ? 
She  knew  that  in  her  proper  senses  she  would 
choose  to  die  a  death  of  torture  rather  than 
that  he  should  have  one  suspicion  of  her  feel- 
ing for  him.  No,  no !  She  passionately  re- 
canted that  moment's  impulsive  wish  as  she 
took  her  candle,  and,  more  tranquil  now,  went 
over  and  stood  by  his  bed. 

It  was  not  swathed  in  a  great  cretonne  cover, 
as  French  beds  are  apt  to  be,  but  was  made 
in  the  American  fashion,  with  smooth  white 
coverlet  and  fair  linen  sheets.  Still  holding 
the  candle  in  her  hand,  she  sank  on  her  knees 
beside  this  bed,  and  closed  her  eyes,  and  moved 


166  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

her  lips  in  prayer.  Her  long  hair  was  hang- 
ing in  a  thick  mass  down  her  back.  The 
white  gown  that  she  wore  was  almost  as  plain 
as  a  religious  habit,  and  she  looked,  with  her 
taper  burning  in  front  of  her,  like  a  nun  before 
a  shrine. 

She  felt  a  certain  power  of  renunciation 
come  into  her,  and  a  strength  to  do  what  right 
and  duty  demanded.  She  rose  from  her  knees, 
and  bent  over  the  bed,  and  for  a  moment  laid 
her  cheek  against  the  cool  white  pillow.  Oh, 
might  God  be  very  good  to  him,  she  prayed  ! 
Might  He  make  up  to  him  for  all  the  pain  and 
grief  and  woe  that  she  had  caused  him  ;  and 
some  time  in  heaven  mi^ht  he  come  to  know 
how  wholly  and  completely  she  had  loved 
him  ! 

She  felt  a  sense  of  inward  calm  and  strength 
as  she  turned  from  the  bed,  crossed  the  room, 
and  entered  her  own  apartment,  closing  and 
locking  the  door  behind  her. 

This  peace  was  on  her  still  as  she  presently 
went  to  bed,  and  fell  almost  immediately  into 
a  dreamless  sleep. 


XV 


Sonia  was  awakened  early  by  sounds  in  the 
room  next  her  own,  and  as  she  opened  her  eyes 
with  perfect  recollection  of  all  that  had  passed 
the  night  before,  she  wondered  if  it  could  pos- 
sibly be  that  Harold  had  returned.  It  might 
be  only  the  maid  opening  and  airing  the  room  ; 
but  whatever  it  was,  she  could  not  sleep  again, 
and  she  began  to  devise  a  plan  for  getting 
away  early,  so  that  she  might  avoid  the  possi- 
bility of  meeting  Harold.  She  got  out  of  bed, 
parted  the  curtains,  and  opened  the  casement 
of  the  low  French  window.  The  early  sun- 
shine had  washed  everything  with  its  faint 
golden  glow,  and  the  little  new-born  leaves 
that  covered  the  trees  in  the  place  with  a  foli- 
age of  feathery  green,  paler  than  ever  in  its 
transparence  against  the  sun,  made  a  delicate 
filmy  screen,  through  which  she  looked  down 
on  an  exquisite  moving  picture. 

The  doors  of  the  beautiful,  great  Madeleine 
i67 


168  THE  PRINCESS   SONIA 

were  open  wide,  and  through  them  was  pour- 
ing a  lonir  white  rivulet  that  seemed  to  have 
its  source  in  the  little  covered  doorway  in  the 
side  of  the  basement  of  the  great  building,  and 
flowed  thence  in  an  even  stream  around  the 
corner,  and  up  the  great  steps  of  the  building, 
passing  between  its  central  pillars,  and  so  into 
the  interior  of  the  church.  This  stream  was 
composed  of  what  seemed  an  unending  num- 
ber of  little  girls  dressed  for  their  first  com- 
munion. They  were  all  in  spotless  white,  with 
thin,  transparent  veils  reaching  to  the  hems  of 
their  gowns,  white  wreaths  upon  their  heads, 
white  stockings,  shoes,  and  gloves,  and  each 
of  them  carried  a  tall  white  taper,  to  be  pres- 
ently lighted  in  the  church.  Stationed  like 
sentinels  along  the  line  were  gray-clad,  white- 
bonneted  sisters  of  charity,  who  directed  the 
children's  movements  as  they  walked  with  an 
awed  stateliness  out  of  the  little  door,  up  to 
the  corner  and  around  it,  and  then  through 
the  gate  and  up  the  steps,  and  were  lost  to 
sight  beyond  the  wide  church-door. 

Sonia  could  see  the  very  expressions  of  their 
faces  as  they  would  look  up  for  direction  to 
the  sisters  as  they  passed,  lifting  their  meek 
and   timid   glances    with    an    air   of  solemnity 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  169 

which  in  some  instances  struggled  with  a  sense 
of  pride  in  their  unwonted  paraphernalia. 
Somehow,  the  sight  of  so  much  ignorance, 
trust,  and  innocence,  and  the  thought  that 
each  one  of  them  possessed  a  woman's  heart, 
with  all  its  capacity  for  suffering,  for  hoping, 
for  loving,  for  regretting,  absolutely  overcame 
her.  How  ignorant  they  were  of  what  lay  be- 
fore them !  How  fearlessly  their  little  feet 
were  entering  upon  the  long  journey  of  life, 
so  blind  to  the  pains  and  bitterness  of  its  way  ! 
It  seemed  heartrendingly  cruel  to  her,  to  think 
how  they  must  suffer  from  the  mere  fact  that 
each  one  of  them  was  a  woman-child.  O  God, 
that  women  had  to  suffer  so! — that  even  love, 
the  one  delight,  should  bring  in  its  wake  such 
pain  !  She  could  see  none  of  the  joy  ahead 
of  these  sweet  children  ;  she  thought  only  of 
what  her  own  heart  suffered  now —  the  regret, 
the  longing,  the  unfathomable  sadness,  the 
blight,  the  disappointment,  the  despair !  The 
passionate  pain  of  her  heart  broke  forth  in 
violent  sobbing  as  she  stood  between  the  parted 
curtains,  fascinated  by  the  lovely  sight,  but 
scarcely  able  to  see  it  for  her  tears. 

"O  God,  have  pity  on  them — have  pity  on 
them!"  she  sobbed  aloud;  and  then,  while  her 


170  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

whole  frame  shook  with  her  violent  weeping, 
she  suddenly  became  aware  of  the  stealing  on 
of  a  new  influence.  What  was  it?  Nothing 
so  definite  as  sight  or  sound,  but  something 
subtly  powerful  in  its  significance  to  her.  It 
was  the  pungent  odor  of  a  certain  kind  of 
cigar  which  had  once  made  part  of  the  fa- 
miliar atmosphere  of  her  life.  It  dominated 
her  now,  as  if  by  a  spell.  She  was  instantly 
calmed,  and,  as  if  by  magic,  swept  back  into 
the  thrilling  past.  Then,  suddenly,  penetrat- 
ing this  familiar  atmosphere,  there  came  a 
familiar  sound  —  no  articulate  utterance,  but 
just  a  sound  in  the  throat,  which  seemed 
somehow  meant  to  challenge  attention.  She 
would  have  known  that  voice  in  the  most 
distant  and  unlikely  spot  of  earth ;  and  now 
it  became  quite  plain  to  her  that  Harold  had 
returned,  and  was  watching  the  scene  oppo- 
site from  his  open  window,  scarcely  a  yard 
away. 

He  must  have  heard  her  words  and  sobs ! 
He  must  have  understood  them,  he  was  so 
well  practised  in  reading  her  heart.  It  had 
been  an  open  book  to  him  once,  though  now 
it  must  be  forever  locked  and  sealed. 

Her  hands  had  fallen  from  the  curtains,  and 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  171 

she  had  moved  backward.  There  had  seemed 
to  come  into  her  strength  and  support  from 
the  mere  sound  of  that  voice.  There  was  no- 
thing new  in  this.  Often,  often  had  she  felt  it 
before.  And  once  it  had  been  in  her  power  to 
summon  this  support  at  will,  in  any  hour  of 
grief  or  trial.  That  power  was  gone  now, 
never  to  come  again ;  but  for  this  once  this 
supreme  and  availing  help  had  been  afforded 
her.  She  felt  within  her  the  power  to  be 
strong,  to  collect  herself,  and  to  form  and  ex- 
ecute plans  of  getting  away  from  this  place  of 
temptation  and  danger. 

She  fell  on  her  knees.  Her  soul  uttered  a 
prayer  of  mingled  thanksgiving  and  entreaty. 
As  she  raised  her  eyes  she  could  see  through 
the  slightly  parted  folds  of  the  curtains  the 
pointed  arch  that  topped  the  Madeleine. 
Carved  in  enduring  stone,  that  generations 
to  come  might  see  and  gather  comfort  from 
it,  was  the  gracious  figure  of  Jesus,  spread- 
ing out  his  arms  of  welcome  to  the  poor 
Magdalen,  who  knelt  in  supplication  at  his 
feet.  At  his  side  was  a  glorious,  great  an- 
gel, who,  with  drawn  sword,  stood  over  the 
woman,  and  thrust  back  with  his  other  hand 
the  evil  creatures  who  in  vain  besieeed  her. 


i72  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

On  the  right  hand  of  Christ  another  angel, 
with  wings  at  rest,  held  a  crreat  horn  of  tri- 
umph,  and  behind  him  were  women  crowned 
and  garlanded,  with  little  children  clinging  to 
them.  Farther  still  was  a  woman  on  a  bed  of 
illness,  over  whom  another  angel  of  mercy  had 
spread  its  wings  as  she  came  to  Christ  to  have 
her  body  healed. 

The  center  of  it  all  was  the  beneficent  fig- 
ure of  the  human  Saviour;  and  Sonia,  looking 
down  from  this  immutable  image  carved  in 
stone  to  the  flowing,  changing,  passing  stream 
of  young  human  creatures  beneath,  felt  calmed 
and  comforted.  So  they  could  keep  their 
childish  faith,  there  was  a  refuge  for  them,  and 
she  saw  them  now  without  any  prompting  to 
tears. 

She  got  up  from  her  knees,  bathed  her  face, 
smoothed  her  hair  before  the  mirror,  and  then, 
after  darkening  the  room  a  little,  rang  for  the 
maid,  and  asked  for  her  coffee. 

By  the  time  it  came  she  was  almost  dressed, 
and  she  instructed  the  servants  very  carefully 
not  to  disturb  her  young  mistress,  but  to  call 
a  cab  for  her  at  once, — as  she  found  it  neces- 
sary to  go  home  earl)-, — and  to  tell  Martha, 
when  the  latter  awoke,  that  she  was  very  well, 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  173 

but  was  obliged  to  be  at  home  at  a  certain 
hour. 

Her  plan  worked  perfectly,  and  on  her  way 
to  the  cab  she  saw  no  one  except  the  Ameri- 
can maid,  who  went  down  with  her.  In  pass- 
ing through  the  antechamber  she  noticed  a 
man's  covert-coat,  stick,  and  hat,  together 
with  some  crushed  newspapers,  thrown  on  a 
sofa.  But  she  had  not  needed  this  to  convince 
her  of  the  fact  that  Harold  had  returned,  and 
had  been  in  his  room,  watching,  as  she  had 
watched,  the  stream  of  little  girls  beginning 
their  celebration  of  the  month  of  Mary  by 
taking  their  first  communion. 

The  first  of  May  being  also  what  is  known 
as  "  Labor  Day,"  it  was  a  strange  contrast 
to  the  unworldliness  and  other-worldliness  of 
these  little  religieuses  to  see  the  alert  military 
forces  now  beginning  to  fill  the  streets,  in  an- 
ticipation of  possible  insurrection  and  danger, 
of  which  there  was  strong  menace  that  year. 

Gendarmes  in  groups  of  six  and  eight,  and 
sometimes  even  more,  dotted  the  streets  in  all 
directions,  and  the  mounted  guard  was  out  in 
full  force.  Sonia,  looking  from  her  cab  win- 
dow, heard  repeated  orders  given  to  small 
groups  of  citizens  to  disperse.    Even  two  men 


174  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

were  not  permitted  to  stand  and  talk  together, 
and  she  was  conscious  of  a  certain  amuse- 
ment at  seeing  two  groups  of  gendarmes  com- 
bine forces  to  separate  these  little  knots  of 
two  and  three.  Occasionally  there  was  some 
resistance,  and  she  saw  several  arrests  made, 
which  frightened  her.  She  felt  lonely  and  un- 
protected, driving  through  the  streets  of  Paris 
with  an  unknown  cabman  at  that  early  hour, 
when  there  was  even  a  possibility  of  such  a 
horror  as  an  insurrection  of  the  French  lower 
orders. 

It  came  over  her  with  piercing  power  how 
Harold  would  once  have  felt  about  her  being 
in  such  a  position,  and  how  strange,  how  in- 
explicable, how  unnatural,  it  was  that  it  could 
be  nothing  to  him  now — that,  even  if  he  knew 
it,  he  would  feel  bound  to  accept  it  passively ; 
for  nothing,  she  wras  certain,  could  induce  him 
to  exercise  the  semblance  of  a  ri^ht  over  her. 

She  got  out  of  the  cab  at  her  own  door,  safe 
in  body,  but  more  excited  and  confused  in 
mind  than  she  had  ever  been  in  her  life — and 
perhaps,  in  this  moment,  more  wretched  also. 


XVI 

Harold's  condition  of  mind  and  feeling  on 
that  morning  of  the  first  of  May  was  so  com- 
plicated and  perplexed  that  he  felt  for  the  first 
time  in  his  life  utterly  unable  to  see  his  way. 
He  was  accustomed  to  having  things,  no  mat- 
ter how  difficult,  look  definite  to  him.  He 
had  not  hesitated  in  deciding  on  his  sudden 
marriage  with  Sophia  Rutledge,  nor  had  he 
felt  the  least  hesitation  as  to  his  course  a 
month  later,  when  she  demanded  a  divorce 
from  him.  His  path  had  been  clear  and  open 
before  him,  and  he  had  taken  it  unflinchingly. 
He  felt  the  same  ability  to  do,  and  the  same 
courage  to  endure,  now,  if  he  could  only  see 
his  way.  He  knew  himself  too  well  to  sup- 
pose that,  after  having  been  married  to  this 
woman,  he  could  ever  love  another,  and  he 
had  quite  decided  to  accept  his  life  and  to  put 
the  thought  of  happiness  out  of  it.  In  mak- 
ing this  decision  he  had   had  the   strongest 


176  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

possible  conviction  of  the  truth  of  his  wife's 
declaration  that  she  did  not  love  him,  and  it 
was  this  which  had  made  submission  to  her 
decision  the  only  possible  course  for  him. 
She  was  such  a  strong  and  resolute  woman 
that  he  had  imagined  her,  after  the  stern  or- 
deal of  the  first  few  months  of  separation, 
going  resolutely  on,  with  her  life  adjusted  to 
its  new  conditions ;  and  although  he  was  cer- 
tain that  her  marriage,  separation,  and  the 
coming  divorce  would  make  too  deep  marks 
in  her  womanly  consciousness  for  her  ever  to 
think  of  marrying  again,  he  quite  believed 
that  she  was  the  calm  and  self-poised  woman 
for  which  he  knew  nature  had  intended  her. 

It  was  therefore  a  great  surprise  to  him,  on 
meeting  her  again,  to  see  such  marked  indi- 
cations of  indecision,  nervousness,  and  lack 
of  control.  He  felt  that  she  often  said  and 
did  what  she  had  meant  not  to  say  and  do, 
and  he  was  aware  that  she  was  a  prey  to  vari- 
ableness, fluctuation,  and  caprice.  What  did 
it  mean  ?  This  was  the  question  which  he  set 
himself  to  consider  with  all  the  concentration 
of  his  mind.  He  did  not  know  —  what  was 
the  truth  —  that  these  new  qualities  in  her  ex- 
isted only  with  regard  to  himself,  and  that  to 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  177 

her  aunt,  her  acquaintances,  her  servants,  and 
all  who  came  in  contact  with  her,  she  was 
more  than  ever  decided,  self-collected,  and 
even  self-willed.  If  he  could  have  known 
that,  it  would  have  let  in  light  upon  a  subject 
and  situation  which  seemed  to  him  impenetra- 
bly dark.  Every  time  that  he  had  seen  her 
she  had  left  upon  his  mind  a  different  impres- 
sion. Sometimes  he  wondered  if  she  could 
be  ill,  to  account  for  such  a  change  ;  and  some- 
times he  told  himself  that  it  was  an  unpardon- 
able demand  upon  her  nervous  endurance  for 
him  to  come  into  her  presence.  Still,  when 
he  reflected,  he  had  never  thrust  himself  upon 
her,  and  on  the  only  occasion  when  their  meet- 
ing had  not  been  accidental,  it  had  been  her 
deliberate  doing.  What  must  he  conclude 
from  this? 

It  would  be  conceit  only  which  could  make 
him  think,  after  that,  that  she  either  feared  or 
disliked  to  meet  him.  He  certainly  had  no 
right  to  suppose  that  she  sought  or  wished  it. 
He  must,  therefore,  conclude  that  she  was 
quite  indifferent  to  him,  and  wished  him  to  ac- 
cept that  view  of  the  case. 

He  tried  hard  to  do  this,  but  there  was 
something  in  her  manner  and  in  his  own  con- 


i78  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

sciousncss  which  positively  prevented  his  hold- 
ing to  this  idea.  It  was  not  that  she  appeared 
to  him  to  be  unhappy,  but  she  did  seem  dis- 
turbed, restless  and  fitful.  After  his  interview 
with  her  in  the  atelier,  he  felt  that  she  had  so 
definitely  conveyed  to  him  her  wishes  in  the 
case  that  now  he  had  only  to  follow  them  and 
to  keep  out  of  her  way,  so  far  as  it  rested  with 
him  to  do  so. 

On  this  course  he  fully  resolved ;  but  her 
beauty,  her  voice,  her  movements,  haunted 
him  by  day  and  night.  He  knew  that  he  was 
as  absolutely  under  her  spell  as  he  had  ever 
been.  He  knew  that  a  point  might  come  when 
his  self-control  would  be  powerfully  threat- 
ened, and  then  there  would  be  nothing  for  it 
but  to  flee.  He  was  not  afraid  of  the  conse- 
quences to  himself  which  might  lie  in  this  be- 
trayal of  his  past.  He  was  thinking  of  her, 
and  of  the  increased  trouble  which  it  would 
bring  into  her  life  if  she  should  come  to  real- 
ize how  he  still  loved  her.  This  was  a  quite 
unnecessary  trial  for  her,  and  one  which  he 
was  resolved  she  should  not  have. 

He  had  not  known  of  any  plan  of  Martha's 
for  having  her  friend  spend  the  night  of  his 
absence  with  her,  so  it  took  him  completely 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  179 

by  surprise  when  he  returned  at  an  earlier 
hour  than  he  had  expected,  and,  inquiring  of 
the  man  servant  if  all  was  well,  was  told  that 
the  Princess  Mannernorff  had  dined  and 
spent  the  night  with  his  sister.  He  ascer- 
tained what  room  she  was  occupying,  and 
when  the  servant,  who  carried  his  bag,  went 
into  his  own  room  ahead  of  him,  he  reproved 
the  man  rather  severely  for  opening  the  win- 
dow with  such  a  noise.  Then  immediately 
he  sent  the  servant  away. 

He  had  seen,  from  below,  the  beginning  of 
the  little  procession  going  into  the  Madeleine  ; 
and  as  he  stood  half  unconsciously  watching  it, 
possessed  by  the  thought  that  the  woman  who 
had  once  been  his  adored  and  adoring  wife  was 
asleep  in  the  next  room  to  him,  he  heard  the 
window  of  that  room  open,  and  he  knew  that 
she  was  awake,  and  standing  very  near.  He 
heard  her  draw  the  curtains  back  by  the  cords 
and  rings  above.  He  even  heard  the  little  ef- 
fort in  her  breathing  caused  by  the  strong  pull. 
Each  of  them,  he  knew,  was  looking  at  the 
same  sight  —  the  beautiful,  moving  panorama, 
seen  through  the  flecks  of  sun-washed,  young 
green  leaves ;  but  while  she  was  thinking  of 
those  trustful  and  unconscious   children,  his 


i8o  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

thoughts  were  wholly  of  her.  His  heart  was 
tilled  with  longings  so  intense  and  masterful  as 
to  crowd  out  everything  else.  Then,  in  a  flash, 
his  humor  changed  ;  for  there  came  to  him  her 
stifled  sobs,  and  her  calls  on  God  to  pity  them  — 
those  sweet,  unknowing  little  ones,  born  to  be 
suffering  women.  With  his  old  swift  compre- 
hension of  her,  he  knew  why  this  sight  had 
touched  her  so,  and  he  realized  what  he  had 
only  dimly  felt  before,  that  she  was  a  miser- 
able woman,  wearily  walking  a  via  dolorosa. 

He  did  not  ask  to  know  what  it  might  be. 
He  longed  only  to  help  and  comfort  her.  He 
could  not  speak,  but  at  least  he  could  let  her 
know  that  he  was  near;  and  then  it  was  that 
he  had  made  the  sound  which  Sonia  had  heard. 

That  sound  was  followed  by  silence.  Was 
she  perhaps  indignant,  he  asked  himself,  that 
he  should  dare  to  make  this  demand  upon  her 
attention  ?  She  would  have  a  right  to  be  ;  for 
he  could  make  no  pretense  that  he  had  not 
deliberately  intended  to  do  this.  Yet  she  was 
alone  there,  sad  and  troubled,  and  he  was 
close  at  hand,  with  a  heart  that  ached  to  com- 
fort her.  He  could  not  have  rested,  feeling  that 
she  was  unaware  of  his  knowledge  of  her  pres- 
ence,   and   no   matter  what   consequences   to 


THE    PRINCESS    SONIA  181 

himself  the  act  might  carry,  he  deliberately 
said  to  her  in  that  sound:  "  I  am  here,  and  I 
know  that  you  are  there." 

If  she  had  made  a  siom  in  answer,  he  would 
have  thanked  God  on  his  knees  ;  but  she  had 
withdrawn  from  the  window  in  silence,  and  he 
had  felt  only  that  she  was  gone. 

An  hour  later,  when,  the  servant  brought  his 
coffee  and  the  morning  papers,  he  brought  also 
the  information  that  the  princess  had  gone  off 
alone  some  time  before  in  a  cab. 

Harold  felt,  at  hearing  this,  a  perfect  fury 
of  anger  and  indignation.  With  the  possibil- 
ity of  a  riot  in  view,  and  the  knowledge  that 
ladies  had  been  warned  not  to  venture  unpro- 
tected on  the  streets,  it  made  his  blood  boil  to 
think  she  —  the  delicate  woman-spirit  and 
woman-body  that  he  knew  so  well  —  should 
have  gone  forth  alone  from  under  the  very  roof 
with  him  ;  and  that  even  if  he  had  known  of  it, 
he  would  have  had  no  right  to  interfere.  The 
legal  right,  of  course,  he  had  ;  but  that  fact  only 
made  it  the  more  impossible  for  him  to  assert 
upon  her  any  claim.  Not  all  the  laws  that  were 
ever  made  could  have  bound  or  loosed  him  so 
indomitably  as  did  her  wish  and  will.  The 
fact  that  it  was  still  within  his  power  to  assert  a 


182  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

legal  claim  upon  her  constituted  in  itself  the 
strongest  possible  demand  upon  a  man  of  his 
nature  to  leave  her  as  free  as  air  from  any  bon- 
dage or  emancipation  which  could  exist  by  any 
right  but  that  of  love.  If  she  had  loved  him, 
he  would  have  asserted  his  power  and  right  to 
control  and  influence  her.  As  she  did  not  love 
him,  there  was  no  creature  living  who  was  so 
free  from  him  as  she  —  this  woman  whom  once 
he  had  held  in  as  binding  fetters  as  ever  love 
had  forged. 


XVII 

On  reaching  home,  Sonia  went  immediately 
to  her  room,  and  sent  word  to  her  aunt  that 
she  was  feeling  ill,  and  desired  not  to  be  dis- 
turbed. Her  maid  brought  her  a  message  of 
condolence  in  reply,  and  she  knew  that  she 
was  now  safe  in  her  solitude  for  the  remainder 
of  the  day. 

She  undressed  quickly,  threw  on  a  loose 
dressing-gown,  unfastened  the  thick  coil  of  her 
hair,  and  then,  telling  her  maid  not  to  come  to 
the  room  until  she  should  ring,  she  threw  her- 
self at  full  length  on  the  lounge,  and  lay  there 
with  her  eyes  closed,  profoundly  still.  She  had 
caused  the  blinds  to  be  shut  and  the  curtains 
drawn.  The  beautiful  spring  sunshine  flooded 
everything  without,  but  about  her  all  was  gloom 
and  darkness.  She  could  hear  the  whir  of  in- 
numerable wheels  and  the  click  of  horses'  feet 
on  the  smooth  pavement  outside,  and  she  knew 
that  the  streets  were  alive  and  abloom  with 

183 


1 84  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

smartly  dressed  men  and  women  in  open  car- 
riages, driving  between  the  long  lines  of  flow- 
ering horse-chestnuts  down  the  beautiful 
Champs  Elysees  to  the  Palais  de  l'lndustrie. 

Long  ago  she  had  ordered  a  charming  cos- 
tume for  this  occasion,  selected  with  much 
care  and  thought;  and  it  had  come  home  more 
than  a  realization  of  her  expectations.  She 
had  fancied  that  she  would  have  pleasure  in 
joining  a  party  of  friends,  and  perhaps  linger- 
ing about  the  neighborhood  of  her  own  pic- 
ture to  hear  any  comments  that  might  be  made 
upon  it.  She  had  not  allowed  herself  to  hope 
that  it  would  be  on  the  line ;  but  there  it  was 
this  moment,  as  she  knew ;  and  the  pretty 
gown  and  bonnet  and  parasol,  all  so  pains- 
takingly selected,  were  neatly  put  away,  and 
she  was  lying  nerveless  in  this  lonely  room. 

She  lay  on  her  back,  with  her  arms,  from 
which  the  sleeves  fell,  thrown  over  her  head, 
and  her  face  turned  to  one  side,  so  that  her 
cheek  rested  against  the  smooth  flesh  of  one 
inner  arm.  The  folds  of  her  scant  gown  lay 
thin  and  pliant  over  her  long,  slim  figure,  and 
the  pointed  toes  of  her  little  gray  mules 
showed  at  the  end  of  the  lounge  where  her 
feet  were  crossed  one  over  the  other.      To-day 


THE  PRINCESS   SONIA  185 

she  had  given  up  the  long,  long  struggle  for 
self-control  and  strength.  She  abandoned 
herself  absolutely  to  the  dark,  unbroken  grief 
which  she  felt  to  be  her  only  natural  and  hon- 
est life.  She  did  not  even  long  for  happiness 
to-day :  she  longed  only  for  the  peace  of 
death — the  nothingness  of  the  grave.  Oh,  to 
be  taken  so,  without  the  need  to  stir  or  move, 
and  lowered  into  a  cool,  deep,  still  grave, — 
breath,  consciousness,  hope,  regret,  memory, 
individuality,  all,  all  gone, —  and  earth  and 
grass  and  flowers  over  her !  That  instinct  of 
weak  self-pity,  to  which  the  strongest  of  us 
yield  now  and  then,  overcame  the  lethargy  of 
her  mood,  and  the  springs  of  tears  were 
touched.  Two  large  drops  rose  and  forced 
their  way  between  her  close-shut  lids. 

"  O,  what  have  I  done,  what  have  I  done, 
to  have  to  suffer  so?"  she  whispered  —  "  to 
have  to  give  up  all,  all  joy,  and  take  only 
pain  and  misery  and  regret  for  all  my  life  ! 
It  was  only  a  mistake.  It  was  no  sin  or 
crime  that  I  committed  when  I  sent  him  away, 
and  said  that  I  did  not  love  him.  It  was  only 
an  awful,  fatal,  terrible  mistake.  I  have 
feared  so  for  a  long,  long  time ;  but,  oh  !  I 
know   it   now!     I  want   him  back  —  I    want 


1 86  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

him  back  !  I  want  his  love,  and  his  patience, 
and  his  care.  I  want  him  for  my  friend,  and 
my  protector,  and  my  husband.  And  though 
I  want  him  so,  I  am  farther  away  from  him 
than  if  I  had  never  seen  him.  When  this  hide- 
ous divorce  is  got,  and  our  beautiful  marriage 
has  been  undone,  any  other  woman  in  the  world 
might  hope  to  win  his  love.  I  shall  be  the 
one  free  woman  on  earth  to  whom  that  hope 
would  be  shame  and  outrage  and  humiliation. 
O  my  God,  help  me,  help  me !  Show  me 
what  to  do.  Give  me  back  at  least  my  pride, 
that  I  may  not  have  to  suffer  his  contempt. 
O  God  Almighty,  if  his  love  for  me  is  quite, 
quite  dead,  in  mercy  let  my  love  for  him  die 
too!  Oh,  no  —  no  —  no!  My  God,  I  take 
it  back !  I  do  not  ask  it.  I  do  not  want  to 
stop  this  agony  of  pain  that  comes  from  lov- 
ing him.  O  God  of  pity  and  compassion, 
give  me  now  a  little  help,  and  show  me  what 
to  do.  Kill  me  now  —  strike  me  dead,  O 
God  —  rather  than  let  me  do  anything  to 
cause  him  to  despise  me  !  " 

She  buried  her  face  in  her  hands,  and  went 
on,  speaking  between  her  fingers  in  thick, 
sobbing  whispers. 

"  God  did   not   hold  me  back  before  from 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  187 

cutting  my  own  throat,"  she  said;  "and  yet  I 
prayed  to  him  with  all  my  soul,  as  I  am  pray- 
ing now  !  Perhaps  I  was  too  self-willed,  and 
wanted  my  own  way  too  much,  and  so  he 
would  not  hear  me.  Oh,  I  want  to  do  his 
will  —  I  want  to  let  him  choose  for  me ;  but, 
oh,  far  more  than  that  I  want  my  love,  my 
darling,  my  husband !  We  have  been  joined 
together  by  God,  and  he  has  not  put  us  asun- 
der, nor  has  man  put  us  asunder.  Neither 
did  he  do  it!  It  was  I, —  I  myself, —  out  of 
my  weak  selfishness  and  self-will,  because  I 
wanted  to  make  everything  conform  to  me  — 
because  I  wished  him  to  love  me  by  a  rule 
and  ideal  of  my  own  —  to  treat  me  according 
to  my  fancy  —  to  make  every  sacrifice  of  him- 
self and  his  nature  and  thoughts  and  feelings 
to  me,  and  I  was  willing  to  consider  him  in 
nothing !  But  oh,  my  God,  I  have  been 
shown  my  wickedness  and  selfishness  !  The 
scorching  light  of  truth  has  come,  and  now  I 
see  it  all.  If  I  could  have  him  back !  If  I 
could  wipe  out  the  past,  and  be  once  more  in 
my  wedding-dress  and  veil,  and  give  him  my 
vows  again,  O  God,  thou  knowest  whether  I 
could  keep  them  now  or  not !  It  cannot  be, 
it  cannot  be  !     He  pities  me   and  would  be 


i88  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

kind  to  me,  but  he  does  not  love  me  any 
longer.  O  God  Almighty,"  she  cried  aloud, 
writhing  her  body  from  the  lounge,  and  get- 
ting on  her  knees,  with  her  hands  and  her 
face  lifted  upward,  "take  me  and  work  in 
me,  and  give  light  to  my  blinded  eyes  !  Give 
me  the  strength  to  do  what  is  right  —  to  give 
him  up  —  to  stop  thinking  of  him  !  I  cannot 
bear  this  tearing  struggle  any  more.  I  can 
fight  no  longer.  I  beg  thee  only,  only  for 
this  —  that  I  may  somehow  grope  and  stumble 
through  this  time  without  the  loss  of  the  one 
thing  that  is  left  to  me  —  my  woman's  pride!" 
She  fell  forward,  with  her  face  buried  in 
the  lounge,  and  great  sobs  shaking  her  body. 
Gradually  these  subsided;  but  long  after  they 
had  ceased  she  knelt  there  with  her  face  con- 
cealed, alone  in  the  silence  and  darkness. 

At  the  same  moment,  only  a  little  distance 
off,  the  sunlight  was  pouring  down  in  floods 
upon  the  palms,  the  stuffs,  the  pictures,  the 
statues,  and  the  crowd  of  fashionable  men  and 
women  who  thronged  the  great  exhibition  of 
the  spring  Salon. 

Voices  of  men  and  women  rose  melodi- 
ously, whether  in  praise  or  blame.    Lorgnettes 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  189 

were  raised,  hands  clasped  in  delight,  and 
shoulders  shrugged  in  disapproval.  Fans 
were  waved  in  delicate,  gloved  hands,  whose 
every  movement  stirred  the  air  in  waves  of 
sweet  perfume  from  flowers,  or  delicate  odors 
wafted  from  women's  gowns.  Smartly  dressed 
men  and  women  stood  about  in  groups,  and 
now  and  then  a  hum  arose  as  some  great 
man,  decorated  with  orders,  and  smiling  with 
confident  good  humor,  passed  along,  bowing 
to  right  and  left,  and  receiving  compliments 
— too  familiar  to  be  anything  but  gently  stimu- 
lating— on  the  beauty  of  his  latest  pictures. 

There  were  groups,  larger  or  smaller,  be- 
fore many  of  the  canvases ;  and  in  one  of  these 
groups,  standing  a  little  apart  from  the  rest, 
were  Harold  and  Martha  Keene. 

The  picture  before  which  they  had  paused 
was  a  rather  small  canvas  on  which  was 
painted  a  woman  leaning  with  her  elbows  on 
a  table,  and  her  chin  resting  in  her  hands, 
which  met  at  the  wrists,  and  then  closed  upon 
the  cheeks  at  either  side.  The  little  table 
before  her  was  perfectly  bare.  There  was  a 
striking  absence  of  detail.  The  one  thing 
which  was  accentuated  by  careful  and  distinct 
painting  was  a  plain  gold  ring  on  the  third 


i9o  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

finger  of  the  left  hand.  The  loose  drapery 
which  wrapped  the  shoulders,  leaving  bare 
the  throat  and  arms,  was  simply  blocked  in 
with  creamy  white  paint  and  heavy  shadows. 
The  hair  was  gathered  in  a  thick  coil  at  the 
top  of  the  head.  There  was  beauty  in  its 
coloring,  and  merit  also  in  the  flesh-tints  of 
the  face  and  throat ;  but  the  power  of  the  pic- 
ture was  in  the  eyes,  which  looked  directly  at 
one.  The  brows  above  them  were  smooth, 
definite,  and  uncontracted.  The  lines  of  the 
face  were  youthful  and  round.  The  lips  were 
firm  and  self-controlled.  All  the  expression 
was  left  to  the  eyes,  which,  large,  honest, 
courageous,  and  truthful,  met  those  of  the 
gazer,  and  gave  their  message — the  message 
of  despair. 

"  It  is  called  in  the  catalogue  simply  '  A 
Study,'  "  said  a  man  standing  close  to  Harold 
Keene ;  "  and  certainly  there  is  no  need  to 
name  it.  The  artist's  name  is  given  as  '  G. 
Larrien.'     Does  any  one  happen  to  know  it?  " 

No  one  did,  and  the  group  of  people  soon 
passed  on ;  but  Harold  stayed  and  looked. 
Martha,  who  stood  at  his  elbow,  was  palpitat- 
ing with  excitement.  She  knew  the  picture 
and  the  artist,  but  she  was  determined  not  to 


THE    PRINCESS    SONIA  191 

betray,  even  by  a  look,  the  secret  which  she  had 
promised  her  friend  to  keep.  She  saw  that 
Harold  studied  the  picture  with  intent  interest, 
and  she  schooled  her  face  to  express  nothing, 
in  case  he  should  look  at  her.  She  was  watch- 
ing him  closely,  and  she  thought  that  his  color 
changed  a  little,  but  he  gave  no  other  sign  of 
feeling.  He  did  not  look  toward  her.  Indeed, 
there  was  neither  question  nor  curiosity  in  his 
eyes,  but  a  look  of  conviction  and,  she  thought, 
a  look  of  pain. 

A  man  and  woman  had  paused  beside  them 
now,  and  stood  gazing  at  the  picture. 

"It  's  quite  a  remarkable  thing,"  said  the 
man  ;  "and  it  appears  to  be  by  a  new  exhib- 
itor. I  do  not  know  the  name.  It  certainly 
tells  its  story." 

"  Yes,"  said  his  companion  ;  "  I  believe  that 
it  is  only  through  marriage  that  despair  comes 
to  a  woman.  If  one  painted  that  look  in  a 
man's  eyes,  one  would  have  to  invent  some 
better  explanation  of  it  than  a  wedding-ring." 

Harold  glanced  toward  the  speakers,  and 
then  began  to  move  away,  without  looking 
again  at  the  picture.  Martha  waited  to  hear 
what  he  would  say ;  but  as  to  this  particular 
picture,  he  said  nothing. 


i92  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

Why  was  it  that  she  felt  a  sudden  certainty 
that  he  knew  who  had  painted  it?  It  seemed 
absurd  to  suppose  that  he  could,  and  yet  she 
had  a  conviction  about  it  impossible  to  shake 
off. 

The  picture,  as  Martha  knew,  had  been  the 
hasty  work  of  a  few  days,  and  had  been  painted 
at  home.  When  Sonia  had  brought  it  to  show 
to  Etienne,  he  had  been  so  surprised  and  de- 
lighted at  it  that  he  had  insisted  upon  substi- 
tuting it  for  the  careful  and  painstaking  piece 
of  work  which  she  had  done  in  the  atelier  on 
purpose  for  the  exhibition.  It  was  evident  that 
he  recognized  some  rare  quality  in  this  picture, 
and  that  others  had  now  recognized  it  also. 
Martha,  looking  back,  saw  that  another  group 
had  formed  in  front  of  it,  and  that  animated 
comment  was  in  progress. 

It  came  over  Martha  now  —  a  thing  she  had 
not  thought  of  before  —  that  in  spite  of  the 
different  contour  and  coloring  of  the  whole 
face,  there  was  a  certain  vague  resemblance  to 
Sonia  in  it.  It  was  not  the  eyes  themselves, 
for  they  were  blue  in  the  picture  ;  but  there 
was  something  in  the  shape  and  setting  of  them 
which  su^crested  Sonia.  She  wondered  if  the 
lovely  princess  could  have  been  aware  of  this 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  193 

herself,  for  she  had  shown  a  strong  reluctance 
to  exhibit  this  picture,  and  had  required  of 
Etienne  and  herself  a  very  strict  promise  of 
secrecy  about  it,  saying  that  it  had  been  seen 
by  them  only.  Martha,  who  knew  that  her 
friend  was  unhappy,  and  that  her  sorrow  had 
come  to  her  through  her  marriage,  felt  in  her 
heart  that  Sonia  had  painted  this  picture  from 
the  look  of  her  own  eyes  in  a  mirror  when  off 
her  usual  guard.  She  wondered  if  by  chance 
Harold  had  had  the  same  idea. 


13 


XVIII 

The  next  morning  Martha  drove  to  the 
apartment  in  the  Rue  Presbourg,  and  found 
her  friend  in  bed,  suffering  from  a  headache 
which  had  been  so  severe  that  she  had  had  a 
doctor.  She  had  passed  a  sleepless  night,  and 
it  distressed  Martha  much  to  see  how  really 
ill  her  beautiful  princess  looked.  There  were 
dark  rings  around  the  lovely  eyes,  and  the 
sweet  mouth,  which  the  girl  so  loved,  had  a 
pathetic  droop  which  showed  that  tears  were 
not  far  off. 

Martha  tried  to  cheer  her  up,  by  telling  her 
how  much  her  picture  had  been  noticed,  and 
repeating  some  of  the  comments  which  she 
had  overheard. 

It  was  strange  how  little  all  this  was  to 
Sonia.  Her  pulses  did  not  quicken,  by  one 
beat,  until  suddenly  Martha  said  that  Harold 
had  been  fascinated  by  it,  had  lingered  before 
it  and  gone  back  to  it,  and  that  somehow  she 

i94 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  195 

could  not  help  thinking  that  he  suspected  that 
she  had  painted  it. 

"  How  could  he  ?  It  is  impossible  !  "  Sonia 
cried,  a  faint  flush  rising  to  her  face. 

"  Yes  ;  I  suppose  it  must  be,"  Martha  con- 
ceded ;  "  and  yet  there  was  something  special 
about  the  picture  to  him  ;  and  after  he  had 
seen  it,  he  certainly  took  no  further  interest 
in  looking  yours  up,  which,  in  the  beginning, 
he  had  told  me  he  was  going  to  do." 

"  Martha,  you  must  never  let  him  know  it ! 
I  trust  you  for  that.  I  shall  never  own  the 
picture  as  long  as  I  live  ;  and  I  have  the  sol- 
emn pledge  of  both  you  and  Etienne  not  to 
betray  me.  You  know  it  was  against  my  will 
that  I  consented  to  exhibit  it,  and  I  could  not 
endure  to  have  it  known  that  a  melodra- 
matic thing  like  that  (for  that  is  what  it  will  be 
called)  had  been  painted  and  exhibited  by  me. 
Did  your  brother  laugh  at  it?  Tell  me  the 
truth.    If  he  laughed  at  it,  I  wish  to  know  it." 

She  had  raised  herself  in  the  bed,  and  sat 
upright,  looking  at  Martha  with  commanding 
eyes. 

"  Laugh  at  it,  Sonia?  Could  anyone  laugh 
at  that  picture — least  of  all  Harold?  It  is 
one  of  the   most  deadly   things  that  I   ever 


196  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

looked  at.  No;  he  did  not  laugh.  Indeed, 
I  think  it  took  from  him  all  power  of  being 
amused  for  the  rest  of  the  day.  I  only  say 
this  to  prove  that  the  impression  which  your 
picture  made  was  a  serious  one.  He  said 
nothing  about  it,  but  I  know  he  was  im- 
pressed by  it." 

The  princess  fell  back  on  her  pillows,  with 
a  face  so  flushed  and  eyes  so  brilliant  that 
Martha  feared  that  she  must  be  in  a  fever,  and 
blamed  herself  for  having  talked  to  her  on  a 
subject  so  exciting  as  the  Salon.  In  a  few 
moments  she  rose  to  go.  Her  friend,  although 
she  declared  that  the  visit  had  done  her  no 
harm,  did  not  try  to  keep  her,  for  a  sudden 
and  excited  fancy  had  seized  her. 

No  sooner  was  Martha  gone  than  she  rose 
quickly,  rang  for  her  maid,  and  began  to 
dress,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  her  head  felt 
light,  and  her  limbs  were  trembling.  She 
put  on  a  long  cloak  and  a  large  black  hat ; 
and,  ordering  her  carriage,  had  herself  driven 
to  the  Palais  de  Tlndustrie. 

A  feverish  desire  to  see  the  picture  again 
had  laid  hold  upon  her.  She  wanted  to  look 
at  it  after  knowing  that  Harold  had  done  so, 
and  to  judge  how  much  she  had  betrayed  of 


"SHE    PUT    ON    A   LONG   CLOAK.' 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  197 

what  her  own  heart  had  felt,  and  her  own 
eyes  had  expressed,  when  she  had  painted 
that  picture  before  her  mirror,  trusting  in  the 
complete  disguise  of  the  decided  changes  in 
features  and  coloring  which  she  had  made. 
She  had  painted  the  expression  as  faithfully 
as  she  could,  knowing  that  no  one  who  had 
never  seen  her  completely  off  guard  would 
recognize  it.  She  felt  now  that  if  she  should 
discover  that  there  was  a  trace  of  possible 
identification  in  either  features  or  expression, 
she  could  not  endure  it.  Harold  would  think, 
and  would  have  a  right  to  think,  that  she  had 
made  capital  out  of  her  most  sacred  shame 
and  sorrow ;  and  he  was  the  sort  of  man  to 
whom  that  idea  would  be  monstrous.  She 
knew  that  she  never  could  have  painted  it  if 
she  had  had  the  least  idea  of  exhibiting  it ; 
but  when  it  was  done,  and  she  had  shown  it 
to  Etienne  to  get  his  criticism  on  the  tech- 
nique, and  he  had  been  so  plainly  delighted 
with  it,  and  urged  her  not  to  carry  it  any 
farther,  but  to  exhibit  it  as  it  was,  she  had 
agreed  to  it  for  three  reasons.  One  was  to 
please  her  master,  who  was  not  very  easily 
pleased  ;  another  was  because  she  knew  she 
could  keep  it  secret  by  telling  no  one  except 


198  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

the  two  people  who  already  knew ;  and  the 
third  and  decisive  one  was  that  it  was  a  way 
suddenly  opened  to  her  of  giving  her  message 
to  the  world  impersonally.  She  felt  a  sort  of 
exultation  in  the  thought  that  in  this  way  she 
could  say  :  "  Look  in  my  face,  and  see.  This  is 
marriage ! " 

When  Sonia  got  out  of  her  carriage  she 
dismissed  it  with  the  maid,  and  mounted  the 
steps  with  a  look  of  greater  firmness  and  reso- 
lution than  she  really  felt,  for  physically  she 
was  ill  and  weak.  She  knew,  however,  that 
she  might  meet  with  acquaintances  here,  and 
might  attract  the  attention  of  strangers  by  be- 
ing quite  alone,  and  therefore  she  realized  the 
necessity  of  calmness  in  her  outward  manner. 
Her  face  was  partly  hid  by  a  veil,  and  she 
had  managed  to  avoid  the  gaze  of  one  or  two 
people  whom  she  had  recognized  as  she  made 
her  way  quickly  to  the  room  in  which  she 
knew  that  her  picture  was  hung. 

In  spite  of  her  preoccupation,  it  quickened 
her  pulses  a  little  to  see  that  there  was  a  small 
group  of  people  in  front  of  it,  evidently  talk- 
ing about  it.  As  she  stood  behind  these,  and 
looked  full  at  the  face  on  the  canvas,  which 
was  looking  full  at  her,  a  sudden  sense  of  con- 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  199 

scious  power,  the  knowledge  that  she  had 
created  a  thing  of  intrinsic  character,  came 
over  her,  and  she  could  hardly  realize  that  it 
was  she  who  had  done  it. 

There  was  certainly  no  trace  of  her  feature 
and  coloring  in  this  picture,  and  yet  she 
shrank  back,  and  had  an  impulse  to  conceal 
herself,  for  what  she  saw  before  her  was  un- 
doubtedly the  picture  of  her  soul.  Her  heart 
fluttered,  and  she  felt  herself  beginning  to 
tremble.  Was  she  going  to  faint  here,  alone  ? 
A  wild  sense  of  helplessness  seized  her,  and 
at  the  same  moment  she  was  conscious  of  a 
certain  familiarity  in  the  outline  of  a  shoulder 
and  arm  between  her  and  the  picture.  She 
glanced  quickly  up  at  the  head  of  this  man, 
and  saw  that  it  was  Harold.  A  little  sound  — 
scarcely  more  than  a  stifled  breath — escaped 
her,  and  he  turned  suddenly,  just  in  time  to 
go  to  her  and  take  her  arm  in  his  steady,  re- 
assuring grasp,  which  seemed  to  nerve  her 
soul  as  well  as  her  body  to  make  a  desperate 
effort  for  self-control. 

"  You  are  ill.  You  should  not  have  ven- 
tured out  alone,"  he  said.  (Oh,  the  strong, 
protecting  voice ;  the  firm,  availing  touch  !) 
Then  he  led  her  to  a  seat,  with  some  quiet 


200  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

words  that  seemed  to  put  new  power  into  her 
to  endure  and  to  resist. 

"I  must  go  home,"  she  said,  rising  as  she 
felt  her  strength  return.  "  I  have  been  ill.  I 
did  not  know  how  weak  I  was." 

" 1  will  take  you  to  your  carriage,"  he  said  ; 
and  without  seeming  to  recognize  the  possi- 
bility of  resistance,  he  drew  her  arm  in  his,  and 
led  her  from  the  room  and  down  the  steps. 

It  came  to  her,  suddenly,  that  her  carriage 
was  not  there. 

"I  sent  the  carriage  away,"  she  said.  "  I 
thought  I  would  stay  awhile,  and  see  the  pic- 
tures." 

He  signaled  to  a  waiting  cab,  and  as  it  drew 
up  to  the  sidewalk,  and  he  put  her  in,  he  said 
quietly,  but  with  resolution  : 

"  I  cannot  let  you  go  alone  in  this  cab,  ill 
and  faint  as  you  are.  I  beg  your  pardon, 
princess ;  but  I  must  go  with  you ";  and  he 
gave  the  number  to  the  cabman,  and  got  in 
beside  her. 

That  word  Princess  stung  her  pride,  and 
gave  her  a  sudden  feeling  of  strength.  She 
knew  that  he  meant  to  convey  by  its  use  the 
idea  that  it  was  only  as  a  matter  of  formal  cour- 
tesy that  he  felt  bound  to  care  for  and  protect 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  201 

her  now.  She  drew  herself  upright  with  a 
slight  bend  of  the  head  in  acknowledgment  of 
his  civility. 

For  a  few  moments  they  drove  along  in  si- 
lence, utterly  alone  together.  Harold  won- 
dered if  the  thoughts  of  other  days  and  hours 
were  in  her  mind.  At  the  same  instant  she 
was  wondering  the  same  thing  about  him. 
She  had  forgotten  that  he  had  just  spoken  of 
her  with  formality,  and  called  her  princess. 
Apparently  he  had  forgotten  it,  too;  for  he 
now  said  in  a  low  tone  and  with  suddenness : 

"Your  picture  is  remarkable.  You  have 
told  your  story  well." 

She  felt  that  denial  would  be  useless.  Since 
he  had  found  her  standing  there  before  it,  she 
was  certain  that  he  knew  the  truth  as  well  as 
she  did. 

"  I  never  meant  that  it  should  be  known 
that  I  painted  it,"  she  said.  "  You  must  know 
that." 

"Why  should  it  not  be  known?"  he  said. 
"  If  a  woman  has  looked  on  what  those  eyes 
have  seen,  surely  she  is  called  upon  to  give 
her  warning.  If  that  is  what  marriage  meant 
to  you,  God  pity  you  !  God  be  thanked  that 
you  are  out  of  it !  " 


202  THE   PRINCESS    SONIA 

At  his  words  there  rushed  across  her  mind 
the  memory  of  a  thousand  acts  and  thoughts 
and  words  of  tenderness,  of  love,  of  strong 
protection,  of  help  in  need  and  comfort  in  dis- 
tress, which  this  man  beside  her  had  given 
her.  How  could  she  tell  him,  though,  that 
the  ground  of  the  despair  which  she  had 
painted  had  been  the  renunciation  of  these  — 
the  thought  that  she  had  had  a  vision  of  what 
the  love  of  man  and  woman  could  be  in  a 
wedded  life,  and  had  been  shut  out  from  it? 
Where  were  now  the  reasons  that  had  seemed 
so  powerful  and  sufficient  for  the  course  which 
she  had  taken  ?  Why  was  it  that,  try  as  she 
might,  she  could  get  no  sense  of  support  and 
satisfaction  from  recalling  these  ?  Was  it  be- 
cause she  felt  them  to  be  the  foolish  qualms 
of  an  ignorant  girl,  who  was  prepared  to  fight 
against  any  and  all  conditions  of  life  which 
did  not  answer  to  her  whim  ?  O  God,  the 
hideous  possibilities  of  error  and  of  wrong 
that  were  about  one  !  How  confident  of  right 
one  might  be  in  doing  an  act  of  weakness  and 
of  shame  ! 

She  could  not  answer  his  last  words.  She 
felt  herself  suddenly  so  possessed  of  the  sense 
of  his  nearness  that  she  could  neither  collect 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  203 

nor  control  her  thoughts.  Her  eyes  were 
lowered,  and  she  could  not  see  his  face ;  but 
the  very  sight  of  his  strong  brown  hand  lying 
ungloved  upon  his  knee,  the  very  bend  of  that 
knee  and  fold  of  the  gray  trousers,  seemed  as 
familiar  to  her  as  her  own  body. 

Suddenly  she  seemed  to  feel  that  he  was 
hers,  and  that  she  was  his,  whether  they  chose 
to  recognize  the  fact  or  not;  that  God  had 
joined  them,  and  no  man,  not  even  themselves, 
had  power  to  put  them  asunder. 

Harold,  meantime,  was  wondering  at  her 
silence.  Why  was  it  that,  after  her  old  defiant 
fashion,  she  had  had  no  answer  ready  for  his 
bitterly  felt  and  spoken  words  ?  That  picture 
had  stung  his  soul,  and  he  would  have  died 
sooner  than  have  owned  to  himself  even  a  wish 
to  have  her  back. 

In  spite  of  this,  he  could  not  forget  that  they 
were  alone  together,  and  that  she  was  ill  and 
weak,  and  needed  pity.  He  wondered  sud- 
denly if  he  had  been  cruel  in  what  he  had  said 
to  her,  and  had  put  too  great  a  tax  upon  her 
strength. 

As  this  thought  crossed  his  mind  the  cab 
stopped,  and  he  became  aware  of  a  din  of  sound, 
made  by  the  tramping  of  men  and  horses,  and 


204  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

the  blare  of  brass  instruments  and  the  beating 
of  drums.  The  cabman  leaned  down  and  called 
to  him,  saying  that  the  way  had  been  crossed 
by  a  procession.  It  would  be  some  time  pass- 
ing. Was  monsieur  in  a  great  hurry?  Harold 
answered  no;  and  as  he  turned  from  the  win- 
dow he  glanced  toward  the  woman  at  his  side, 
and  saw  that  she  was  leaning  back  weakly  in 
her  corner,  deadly  pale.  Her  eyes  met  his, 
however,  with  a  wide,  direct,  unflinching  look, 
and  he  saw  that  there  was  no  danger  of  her 
fainting.  Consciousness,  acute  and  powerful, 
was  written  in  those  eyes. 

Outside,  the  crowd  pushed  and  jostled  by, 
while  the  clatter  of  hoofs  and  feet  came  more 
distinctly  to  the  ears  as  the  sound  of  the  band 
moved  off  in  the  distance.  An  instinct  to  pro- 
tect that  pallid  face  from  being  gazed  upon 
made  him  draw  down  the  thick  silk  blinds. 
He  did  this,  explaining  his  motive  to  his  com- 
panion in  a  few  quick  words.  Then  he  turned 
and  looked  at  her,  and  in  the  suddenly  created 
gloom  their  eyes  met. 

He  was  striving  with  all  his  might  to  keep 
the  fire  out  of  his ;  but  suddenly  he  became 
aware  of  the  same  effort  on  her  part,  as  she 
closed  her  lids  an  instant,  and  then,  as  if  mas- 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  205 

tered  by  a  feeling  stronger  than  her  will,  opened 
them  wide,  and  looked  at  him  again. 

His  heart  leaped.  His  pulses  throbbed.  His 
cheeks  flushed  darkly.  He  moved  a  little 
nearer  to  her,  so  that  their  faces  were  close, 
and  still  her  eyes  met  his  with  that  wild,  burn- 
ing, concentrated  gaze. 

"  For  God's  sake,  what  is  it  ?  "  he  said.  But 
she  did  not  move  a  muscle  or  an  eyelash.  She 
only  gave  her  eyes  to  his,  as  one  would  hold 
up  the  printed  page  of  a  book  to  be  read  and 
understood. 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  he  said  again,  coming  so  near 
as  to  speak  in  the  lowest  whisper,  while  his 
hands  grasped  hard  the  top  of  his  stick,  and 
his  breath  came  thick  and  fast. 

Her  eyes  still  clung  to  his,  but  her  lips  were 
wordless. 

"  I  do  not  understand,"  he  said.  "  For  God's 
sake,  speak  !  I  do  not  want  to  lose  control  of 
myself,  but  I  cannot  forget  that  you  have  been 
my  wife." 

These  words,  which  moved  him  so  that  he 
shook  visibly,  made  apparently  no  impression 
upon  her.  Her  breathing  was  so  scant  and  so 
light  as  scarcely  to  lift  the  lace  upon  her  breast; 
and,  near  as  he  was  to  her,  he  could  not  hear 


2o6  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

it.  Was  she,  perhaps,  unconscious  ?  He  might 
have  thought  so,  but  for  the  deep,  intense  con- 
sciousness in  the  gaze  that  she  fixed  upon  him, 
and  the  flutter  of  her  long-lashed  lids  as  she 
shut  and  opened  them  occasionally  from  the 
strain  of  that  prolonged  look. 

Outside,  the  drum  throbbed  distantly,  like 
the  beating  of  a  great  excited  heart.  The  thin 
call  of  a  trumpet  sounded  keenly  like  a  sigh  of 
pain.  Nearer  the  tramp  of  men  and  horses 
could  be  heard.  But  all  these  things  only  made 
them  feel  more  absolutely  alone  together  — 
this  man  and  this  woman  who  had  once  been 
one  in  marriage !  With  his  breast  heaving 
quickly  with  deep,  uneven  breaths,  he  suddenly 
uttered  her  name  in  a  thick  whisper. 

Still  she  remained  as  she  had  been  before, 
motionless  and  wordless,  while  he  read  her 
eyes.  He  dropped  his  stick,  and  seized  her 
hands  in  both  his  own,  which  were  cold  and 
shaking. 

"Speak!"  he  said  commandingly.  "In  God's 
name,  what  do  you  mean,  unless  it  is  that  you 
love  me  still  ?  " 

Her  hands  were  quiet  and  nerveless  in  his 
grasp,  and  in  another  instant  he  would  have 
lost  control  and  consciousness  of  what  he  was 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  207 

doing.  But  at  this  very  moment  the  cabman 
called  to  his  horse  and  cracked  his  whip,  the 
carriage  gave  a  lurch  forward,  and  they  rattled 
rapidly  away, 

Recollecting  himself,  Harold  dropped  the 
hands  which  he  had  seized  so  recklessly,  and 
touched  the  springs  of  the  curtains,  which  in- 
stantly flew  up,  letting  in  the  full  light  of  day. 

The  fresh  air  which  came  in  seemed  to 
calm  his  heated  blood,  and  he  was  master  of 
himself  again. 

When  he  turned  to  look  at  his  companion, 
she  was  leaning  back  in  exactly  the  same  po- 
sition, only  her  heavy,  richly  fringed  white 
lids  were  dropped  over  her  eyes. 

In  this  way  she  remained  quite  still  until 
the  carriage  stopped  before  the  door  of  her 
apartment.  Harold,  who  thought  that  she 
had  now  really  fainted,  was  about  to  summon 
help  from  the  concierge,  when  she  opened  her 
eyes  with  a  look  of  entire  self-possession  in 
them,  got  out  of  the  cab  without  the  aid  of 
his  offered  hand,  and,  bowing  her  thanks, 
without  speaking  walked  past  him  into  the 
house,  with  a  look  of  cool  dismissal  which 
made  it  impossible  for  him  to  follow. 

Puzzled,  confused,  bewildered  almost  to  the 


2o8  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

point  of  frenzy,  he  got  back  into  the  cab,  and 
ordered  the  driver  to  drive  in  the  Bois  until 
he  should  tell  him  to  turn. 

Sonia,  during  that  same  time,  was  shut 
within  her  room,  thinking  as  intensely  as  he. 
She  had  been  able,  by  dint  of  enormous  will- 
power, to  control  herself  in  all  other  points 
while  indulging  herself  in  one.  She  had  said 
to  herself  during  those  crucial  minutes  in  the 
cab,  while  she  consciously  threw  open  the 
windows  of  her  soul  to  this  man  in  that  clear 
and  unrestricted  gaze,  that  she  would  neither 
speak  nor  stir,  though  the  effort  should  kill 
her.  She  found  that  she  could  best  carry  out 
this  resolve  by  relaxing  her  body  utterly, 
while  her  will  got  every  moment  tenser  in  its 
strain.  She  had  said  to  herself  over  and  over 
to  what  seemed  a  thousand  times:  "  Don't 
move  —  don't  speak.  Don't  move  —  don't 
speak  " ;  and  the  very  consciousness  that  she 
was  equal  to  this  effort  made  her  the  more 
free  in  the  abandonment  with  which  she  had 
let  him  read  her  heart  in  her  eyes. 

Now,  as  she  threw  her  wraps  aside,  and 
paced  up  and  down  her  room,  a  feeling  of  de- 
licious exultation  possessed  her,  and  the  phys- 
ical weakness  which  she  had  lately  felt  was 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  209 

gone  and  forgotten.  It  had  been  a  draught 
of  intoxicating  joy  simply  to  look  at  him  with 
free  and  unbridled  eyes.  Was  he  not  her 
husband,  who  could  not  be,  by  any  act  of  man, 
really  parted  from  her  ?  What  had  she  shown 
him  but  a  woman's  feeling  for  her  wedded 
lover?  Was  she  crazy,  she  wondered,  that 
she  could  have  done  it  then,  and  could  feel 
now  no  regret — only  a  wild  delight  —  in  hav- 
ing done  it  ?  O  God,  O  God,  how  long  it 
was  that  she  had  shut  herself  off  from  feeling, 
and  how  good  it  was  to  feel  once  more !  She 
was  alive  in  every  nerve  and  pulse,  as  she  had 
not  been  for  so  long ;  and  the  throbbing  of 
life  was  sweet,  sweet,  sweet !  Never  mind 
about  the  future ;  she  would  meet  it  boldly, 
and  make  up  some  excuse — that  she  had  been 
ill  or  unconscious  in  the  cab  —  pretend  that 
she  had  forgotten  the  whole  thing  —  do  any- 
thing that  was  needed,  as  to  that !  —  but  the 
throbbing  bliss  of  that  one  half-hour,  she  ex- 
ulted that  she  had  been  bold  enough  to  make 
her  own. 


XIX 

The  C07irswas  closed  at  Etienne's,  but  Sonia, 
who  could  not  bear  to  face  the  hours  of  idle- 
ness which  each  day  must  contain  during  the 
few  weeks  which  her  aunt  was  still  to  spend 
in  Paris,  got  permission  to  come  and  work  in 
the  atelier  during  the  afternoons.  She  was 
privileged  to  get  her  own  models  as  she  re- 
quired them,  and  Martha  was  to  come  also 
when  she  had  time  and  inclination. 

The  day  after  her  encounter  with  Harold  at 
the  Salon,  Sonia,  strong  in  purpose  and  confi- 
dent in  will,  went  to  the  atelier  with  only  Ink- 
ling to  protect  her  and  keep  her  company, 
and  set  resolutely  to  work  to  do  some  severe 
drawing. 

She  had  abundance  of  both  time  and  space 
now,  and  she  settled  herself  with  great  care 
and  deliberation,  with  the  anatomical  figures 
and  numerous  copies  of  Ingres'  drawings  full 
in  view.      She  had  not  worked  very  long,  how- 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  211 

ever,  before  her  enthusiasm  began  to  ebb,  and 
she  put  down  her  charcoal  and  went  across  to 
the  model-throne,  where  she  sat  down  with 
her  elbows  on  her  knees  and  her  chin  in  her 
hands,  and  fell  to  thinking  deeply.  Inkling 
came  and  jumped  up  in  her  lap,  but  she  pushed 
him  away  with  a  roughness  unusual  to  her, 
and  he  had  to  content  himself  with  curling  up 
on  her  skirt.  As  she  sat  there,  conscious  of 
being  quite  alone,  she  was  as  absolutely  still 
as  any  of  the  customary  holders  of  this  posi- 
tion ;  but  the  varied  expressions  which  crossed 
and  changed  her  face  would  have  made  any 
class  of  students  in  the  world  despair  of  such 
a  model.  Sometimes  she  would  look  quite 
happy  for  an  instant,  as  if  a  thought  of  joy  had 
forced  its  way  uppermost.  Then  again  deep 
pain  would  come  into  her  face,  and  shadows 
of  doubt,  perplexity,  and  hopelessness. 

She  sat  so  for  a  long  time.  Inkling  had  had 
a  deep  and  peaceful  sleep  on  the  soft  folds  of 
her  gown,  from  which  he  was  startled  by  a 
knock  at  the  door.  His  mistress  sprang  up 
suddenly,  rolling  him  over,  and  he  began  to 
bark  furiously,  while  Sonia,  with  an  attitude 
of  studious  absorption,  took  her  place  at  the 
easel,    and  seized  her  bit  of  charcoal.     She 


212  THE    PRINCESS    SONIA 

thought  it  was  probably  only  some  boy  on  an 
errand,  but  she  was  also  acutely  conscious  of 
whom  it  might  possibly  be.  So  she  was  not 
entirely  unprepared  for  the  sight  of  Harold 
appearing  quickly  around  the  edge  of  the  old 
sail-cloth  screen. 

He  bowed  with  a  brevity  and  formality 
which  seemed  to  imply  that  she  need  fear  no 
agitating  disturbance  from  him  ;  but  instead 
of  standing  in  his  place  and  stating  the  rea- 
son of  his  presence,  he  came  forward. 

Inkling,  wild  with  excitement,  began  a  repe- 
tition of  his  frantic  performances  of  the  for- 
mer occasion  ;  but  his  mistress,  determined  to 
have  nothing  of  that  sort,  promptly  sup- 
pressed him,  and  he  slunk  away  and  lay  down 
with  great  meekness. 

Harold,  seeming  to  take  no  cognizance  of 
the  dog,  came  nearer,  and  waited  until  the 
absorbed  figure  before  the  easel  should  no- 
tice him.  Presently  she  did  this  by  saying 
formally  : 

"  Martha  is  not  here.  She  has  not  been 
here  to-day." 

"  She  is  at  home.  I  have  just  left  her,"  he 
answered. 

"Oh,  I  beg  your  pardon!  I  thought  you 
had  come  to  see  her." 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  213 

"  No ;   I  have  come  to  see  you." 

44  To  see  me  ?  "  lifting  her  eyebrows  in  light 
surprise. 

11  If  you  are  at  leisure." 

"I  am  busy,  as  you  see;  but  I  can  talk  to 
you  as  I  draw,  if  you  don't  mind." 

"  If  you  will  allow  me,  I  will  wait  until  your 
drawing  is  done." 

"That  would  take  up  too  much  of  your 
time,"  she  said,  laying  down  her  charcoal,  and 
elaborately  brushing  off  her  fingers  with  her 
handkerchief. 

"  Not  at  all.     I  have  nothing  to  do." 

"  I  would  rather  speak  to  you  first — what- 
ever it  is  you  have  to  say — and  go  on  with 
my  work  afterward.  I  dislike  to  draw  with 
people  looking  on." 

"  In  that  case  I  will  ask  you  to  give  me 
your  attention  at  once.  Will  you,  perhaps 
take  this  seat  ?  " 

He  indicated  an  old  wooden  arm-chair ; 
but  she  declined  it  with  a  quick  motion,  and 
went  over  and  took  her  old  place  on  the 
model-throne,  lifting  Inkling  to  her  lap.  Har- 
old seated  himself  on  a  bench  directly  facing 
her. 

"  I  am  sorry  if  I  am  annoying  you,"  he  said  ; 


214  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

"but  I  cannot  take  the  consequences  of  not 
speaking  to  you  now." 

"Consequences?"  she  said.  "What  con- 
sequences ? " 

"  Consequences  to  you  and  to  me.  I  will 
ask  you  to  be  kind  enough  to  look  at  me 
while  I  explain  them." 

Her  eyes  were  fastened  upon  Inkling,  and 
she  kept  them  so,  while  she  began  to  twist 
his  soft  ears.  There  was  a  moment  of  intense 
stillness  throughout  the  room.  Then  the  man, 
in  a  voice  of  deep  concentration,  spoke  her 
name. 

"  Sophie,"  he  said. 

"  Pray  don't  call  me  by  that  name,"  she  an- 
swered quickly.  "  I  have  never  liked  it,  and 
I  wish  now  to  forget  it." 

"  Sonia,  then,  if  you  prefer  it.  I  want  simply 
to  make  plain  the  fact  that  I  am  speaking  to 
you,  the  woman  who  bears  that  name,  and  not 
to  the  princess,  as  you  are  supposed  to  be." 

"  Go  on,"  she  said. 

He  was  silent.  She  kept  her  eyes  fixed  on 
the  dog  until  she  was  afraid  that  her  stubborn- 
ness would  look  childish,  or,  worse  even  than 
that,  timid.     Then  she  looked  up. 

The  next  instant  she  wished  that  she  had  not, 


THE   PRINCESS    SONIA  215 

for  the  compelling  look  that  met  her  own  did 
for  a  moment  make  her  feel  afraid.  She  sum- 
moned all  her  force,  however,  and  looked  at 
him  defiantly,  her  head  raised,  her  eyes  steady. 

"  I  want  you  to  explain  to  me  what  you  meant 
yesterday,"  he  said. 

"What  I  meant  yesterday?  What  do  you 
mean  ? " 

"  What  you  meant  yesterday,  driving  home 
in  the  cab." 

"  What  I  meant  yesterday  by  driving  home 
in  the  cab  ?  I  suppose  my  meaning  was  the 
obvious  one  —  that  I  was  tired  and  ill,  and  that 
my  own  carriage  was  not  there." 

The  timidity  which  she  had  felt  before  grew 
now  into  positive  terror,  as  she  felt  the  master- 
ful force  of  this  man's  power  over  her.  So 
strong  was  her  sense  of  it  that  she  felt  abso- 
lutely reckless  of  what  she  said  or  did,  so  long 
as  she  was  able  to  resist  him. 

"You  will  not  move  me,  or  change  my  in- 
tention —  my  determination  to  get  an  answer 
to  my  question.  Your  evasion  of  it  is  childish 
as  well  as  useless." 

u  I  will  be  childish  if  I  choose.  Who  is  to 
prevent  me  ?  "  she  said  defiantly. 

"  I  will.      I  have  no  intention  of  submitting 


216  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

to  any  such  childishness  now.  You  are  a  wo- 
man, and  you  are  the  only  woman  who  exists 
for  me.  In  that  character  I  mean  to  have  your 
answer  to  my  question." 

His  words  made  her  heart  throb  quick,  with 
a  feeling  outside  of  the  terror  of  self-betrayal 
by  which  she  was  possessed.  She  gave  no 
outward  sign,  however,  as  she  looked  down, 
and  began  once  more  to  pull  at  Inkling's  ears. 

Before  she  realized  what  he  was  doing,  Har- 
old had  bent  forward,  and  lifting  the  dog  from 
her  lap,  he  set  him  on  the  floor,  with  a  shove 
that  sent  him  half-way  across  the  room.  As 
the  little  creature  ran  off  frightened,  Harold 
turned  to  the  woman  facing  him,  and  forcibly 
took  both  her  hands  in  his. 

She  jerked  them  from  him  with  a  powerful 
wrench,  as  she  sprang  to  her  feet,  retreating  a 
few  paces  until  she  was  stopped  by  some 
benches  and  easels  huddled  together  on  that 
side  of  the  room. 

"  Don't  touch  me  !  "  she  cried,  in  a  voice  of 
real  terror. 

He  let  his  hands  drop  to  his  sides,  but  he 
followed,  and  stood  very  close  to  her,  as  he 
said : 

"  You  had  better  answer  me,   and  let   me 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  217 

have  my  way.  I  am  not  to  be  turned  now. 
This  interview  between  us  must  be  final,  and 
I  promise  you  that  after  it  you  shall  be  safe 
from  any  persecution  from  me.  Now,  how- 
ever, the  present  moment  is  my  own.  I  have 
you  in  my  power — and  that  power  I  intend 
to  use ! " 

"  An  honorable  and  manly  thing  to  say  !  " 
she  panted,  her  eyes  blazing  and  her  lips 
curled.  "  Do  you  mean  me  to  understand 
that  you  would  use  force  to  make  me  comply 
with  your  wish  ?  " 

"I  mean  just  that,"  he  answered,  bending 
over  her  with  eyes  that  gave  her  the  feeling 
of  a  physical  touch.  "  I  will  prevent  your 
leaving  this  room  until  you  have  honestly  and 
fairly  spoken  to  me,  and  have  either  confirmed 
or  denied  what  your  eyes  plainly  said  to  me 
yesterday." 

"You  are  cowardly  and  cruel!"  she  cried. 
"You  are  taking  a  mean  advantage  of  me  !  I 
was  ill  yesterday.     I  was  half  unconscious  — " 

"You  may  have  been  ill,"  he  interrupted. 
"  I  know  indeed  that  you  were,  and  that  phys- 
ical weakness  may  have  led  to  self-betrayal ; 
but  you  were  not  unconscious.  Far  from  it. 
You  were   never  more  acutely  conscious   in 


218  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

your  life  than  during  those  long  moments 
when  you  looked  at  me  with  love." 

"  I  deny  it !  "  slie  cried  angrily. 

"  Useless  !  "  he  answered.  "  It  is  not  to  be 
denied." 

She  tried  to  draw  farther  away,  but  the  bar- 
ricade of  easels  stopped  her.  Then  he  him- 
self stepped  backward,  and  put  some  feet  of 
space  between  them. 

"  I  cannot  bear  to  see  you  shrink  from  me," 
he  said.  "  You  will  have  to  forgive  a  persis- 
tence that  may  seem  to  you  brutal ;  but  fate 
has  put  this  opportunity  into  my  hands,  and 
I  'd  be  a  fool  not  to  use  it." 

"  And  what  do  you  expect  to  get  from  it  ? " 
she  asked. 

"An  answer  in  plain  words  to  this  ques- 
tion, Do  you,  or  do  you  not,  love  me  ? " 

"  I  do  not!  "  she  cried  hotly ;  but  her  breast 
was  heaving  so,  her  heart  was  throbbing  so, 
that  she  could  scarcely  catch  her  breath ;  and 
she  felt  that  not  for  all  the  world  dared  she 
look  him  in  the  face. 

"Your  eyes  yesterday  contradicted  your 
words  of  to-day,"  he  said.  "  I  will  not  be 
content  until  I  have  had  both.  So  help  me 
God,    you   are    not  going   to    trifle   with   me 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  219 

now !  I  will  make  you  look  at  me,  and  con- 
firm with  your  eyes  the  words  you  have  just 
spoken,  or  I  '11  have  you  for  my  wife  again  !  " 

He  caught  her  in  his  arms,  and  drew  her 
close  against  him.  She  opened  her  mouth  as 
if  to  scream,  but  he  laid  his  palm  upon  it,  not 
forgetting,  for  all  his  strength,  to  touch  her 
gently. 

"  Oh,  my  darling,  my  precious  one,"  he 
said,  "  don't  call  out  for  protection  from  me, 
as  if  I  were  your  enemy  !  Surely  you  know 
that  I  would  die  by  torture  before  I  would 
hurt  you  —  body  or  soul.  But  something 
—  a  wicked  pride,  perhaps — is  making  you 
struggle  against  the  truth  ;  and,  for  your  sake 
as  well  as  for  my  own,  I  must  make  a  fight 
for  it.  Look !  I  offer  you  the  chance.  If 
you  can  look  me  in  the  face,  and  say  with  eyes 
and  lips  together,  '  Harold,  I  do  not  love  you,' 
then  you  are  as  free  as  air.  If  you  can  do  that, 
I  will  go,  and  never  cross  your  path  again." 

He  had  taken  his  hand  from  her  mouth,  for 
fear  her  panting  breaths  would  cease.  He 
could  feel  the   violent   beating  of  her  heart 

<z> 

against  his  side.  An  overwhelming  tender- 
ness and  pity  for  her  filled  him,  and  his  arm, 
relaxing  its   stern  pressure,    drew  her  close, 


220  THE   PRINCESS   SOMA 

with  an  embrace  whose  only  constraint  was 
that  of  love.  Her  ear  was  very  close  to  him, 
and  he  spoke  to  her  in  the  lowest  whispers. 

"  Dear  one,"  he  said,  "what  is  it  you  are 
fighting  against,  if  it  be  not  the  coming  back 
of  love  and  joy  ?  " 

He  could  not  see  her  eyes.  He  did  not 
wish  to  see  them  yet.  This  waiting  was  bliss, 
because  there  was  hope  in  it. 

She  had  ceased  to  struggle,  and  was  quiet 
in  his  arms.  They  stood  so,  many  seconds, 
their  hearts  throbbing  against  each  other, 
their  cheeks  pressed.  In  the  unspeakable 
sweetness  of  his  nearness,  Harold  felt  against 
his  face  the  moisture  of  a  tear. 

"What  is  it?  "he  whispered.  "You  are 
crying  !     For  God's  sake,  tell  me  why  !  " 

A  gentle  little  head-shake  answered  him; 
but  she  made  no  motion  to  draw  herself  away, 
and  he,  enraptured,  held  her  close. 

"There  is  nothing  —  nothing  that  you  can- 
not tell  to  me,"  he  said,  still  in  that  whisper 
that  thrilled  the  silence  of  the  room.  "  Per- 
haps you  do  not  understand.  Listen,  and  I 
will  make  it  all  plain.  I  loved  you  then.  I 
love  you  now.  I  have  loved  you  through  all 
the  pain  and  silence  in  between.     Oh,  dear- 


THE  PRINCESS   SONIA  221 

est,  never  dream  but  that  you  are  still  my  own 
—  wholly  and  unchangeably  as  I  am  yours — 
if  only  you  love  me !  " 

She  kept  so  still  that  he  was  puzzled. 
He  made  a  motion  to  draw  back  his  head  and 
look  at  her,  but  she  put  up  her  hand  and 
pressed  his  cheek  still  closer  against  hers. 
He  passionately  wished  that  she  would  speak  ; 
but  there  was  no  sound  except  that  fluttered 
breathing,  no  motion  but  that  little  tremor 
which  he  felt  against  his  side.  She  was  weak- 
ening, weakening,  weakening  —  he  was  sure 
of  this ;  but  he  was  in  such  an  absolute  terror 
of  misunderstanding  her  mood  that  he  dared 
not  move  or  speak. 

As  they  stood  there  so,  he  felt  a  sudden 
tightening  of  the  pressure  of  her  arms.  They 
strained  him  close  against  her.  His  heart 
leaped ;  but  he  was  not  sure.  There  was 
something  that  alarmed  him  even  in  that  clasp 
of  love. 

"Are  you  happy?"  he  whispered  in  the 
lowest  murmur.  But  with  a  sudden  wrench 
she  tore  herself  away  from  him,  and  when  he 
tried  to  follow,  waved  him  back  with  a  ges- 
ture which  he  could  not  disregard. 

"  Happy  !  "  she  said  in  a  voice  that  mocked 


222  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

the  thought,  as  she  wrung- her  hands  together, 
and  then,  for  a  moment,  hid  her  face  in  the 
curve  of  one  tensely  bended  arm.  "  What 
have  I  to  do  with  happiness  ? "  she  cried  out, 
flinging  wide  her  arms,  and  looking  upward, 
as  if  appealing  to  some  invisible  presence 
rather  than  to  him  or  to  herself.  "  I  had  it 
given  to  me  once  in  boundless  measure,  and 
I  played  with  it,  and  tossed  it  from  me.  It 
was  lightly  and  easily  done,  and  now  it  can- 
not be  undone." 

Harold  stood  where  her  imperious  gesture 
had  stopped  him,  and  looked  at  her  in  con- 
sternation. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  he  said.  "You 
will  not  try  now  to  deny  your  love  for  me  ! 
You  have  owned  it  in  that  close  embrace 
which  can  mean  nothing  but — " 

"  Good-by  !  "  she  interrupted  him.  "  It 
means  inevitable  parting.  You  must  go,  or, 
if  not,  I  must  fly  to  some  place  where  we  can- 
not meet  again." 

"  But,  dearest,  we  cannot  part.  I  have  told 
you  how  I  love  you  in  plain  words.  You 
have  told  me  the  same,  without  the  need  of 
words." 

She  looked  at  him, —  a  deep,  inscrutable 
gaze, —  and  shook  her  head. 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  223 

"  I  have  had  perfect  love  once,"  she  said, 
"and  from  you — the  one  man  whose  love 
could  ever  have  any  meaning  for  me  —  love 
that  included  perfect  trust,  perfect  confidence, 
perfect  respect.  I  refuse  to  take  from  you  a 
smaller  thing.  It  is  easier  to  give  you  up 
than  to  face  that  thought." 

"  But  Sonia  !  Darling  !  You  have  got  that 
love !     I  tell  you  it  is  just  the  same  !  " 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  It  cannot  be,"  she  said.  "  You  would  feel 
that  what  had  been  once  might  be  again. 
You  could  never  feel  secure  for  even  one  mo- 
ment. I  could  not  bear  it.  You  must  re- 
member what  I  felt  in  that  one  embrace.  Oh, 
Harold,  I  wci7it  you  to  remember  that !  And 
now  you  must  let  me  go." 

"Go?"  he  said.  "Where  should  you  go, 
but  here  to  me  —  to  your  right  place,  your 
home,  your  husband  ?  " 

At  this  last  word  she  gave  a  sharp  cry.  She 
had  been  standing  unsupported,  and  now  a 
sudden  trembling  seized  her,  and  she  half 
tottered  toward  a  chair.  In  an  instant  he  was 
at  her  side,  his  arms  about  her,  fast  and  sure. 
It  was  too  sweet,  this  strong  and  tender  hold- 
ing up  of  her  weak  body.  She  let  it  be,  but 
she  was  motionless  and  wordless  in  his  arms. 


224  THE   PRINCESS   SONIA 

"My  own  child,"  he  said,  "there  can  be  no 
question  as  to  our  future  now.  It  was  all  a 
mistake  —  the  past !   If  we  acknowledge  it  —  " 

"  Oh,  the  past,  the  past !  "  she  said.  "  I  can 
never  get  away  from  it.  We  have  lost  two 
years.  No  matter  if  we  had  the  whole  future 
of  time  and  eternity,  we  could  never  get  those 
back  —  and  it  was  I  that  did  it !  It  is  good  of 
you  to  say  that  you  forgive  me  ;  but  I  —  oh,  I 
never  can  forgive  myself!  You  never  can  be- 
lieve in  me  again.  I  dare  not  ask  or  look  for 
it.  I  don't  deserve  it.  You  would  be  wrong 
and  foolish  if  you  did." 

"Then  wrong  and  foolish  I  will  be!"  he 
said.  "  I  will  believe  in  you  again  and  again, 
forever!  You  have  forgotten  something,  Sonia. 
There  is  no  question  of  judgment  between  you 
and  me,  because  you  are  myself.  Do  you  not 
feel  that  that  is  so  ?  " 

She  did  not  answer,  and  he  said  again,  in 
that  compelling  tone  she  knew  so  well : 

"  Do  you  not  feel  it  so,  my  wife  ? " 

She  raised  to  his,  unswervingly,  eyes  that 
were  clear  as  stars  after  their  recent  tears. 
She  unveiled  her  soul  to  him  as  daringly  as 
she  had  done  yesterday,  and  the  message  that 
they  gave  him  was  the  same  —  abundant,  free, 
unstinted  love,  without  reserve  or  fear. 


THE   PRINCESS   SONIA  225 

He  drew  her  quickly   closer,   still   holding 

her  eyes  with  his. 

"  Speak!     Tell  me!"  he  said. 
Then  voice  and  look  together  spoke : 
"  I  love  you,  Harold  —  my  husband  !  " 
He  took  the  dear  words  from  her  lips  with 

his. 

Afterward,  when  they  were  seated  to- 
gether on  the  model-throne,  they  were  star- 
tled by  a  timid  little  tinkling,  and  as  they  both 
with  a  sense  of  compunction  called  to  Inkling 
to  come,  and  he  sprang  up  between  them 
quivering  with  joy,  and  making  frantic  efforts 
to  lick  both  their  faces  at  once,  their  laughs 
and  struggles  made  such  a  commotion  that 
they  did  not  hear  the  door  open,  admitting 
Martha. 

She  half  crossed  the  room,  and  then  stood 
still,  transfixed  with  amazement,  till  they  drew 
her  down  between  them  and  told  her  every- 
thing. 

"  So  you  are  not  a  princess,  after  all  I "  said 
Martha. 

"  Oh,  yes  I  am,"  Sonia  answered  quickly. 
"  I  'm  'The  Happy  Princess'  —  and  this  is 
my  Prince  !  " 


•""••. 


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